Vijay Mallya is my father's friend'

Actress-turned-Congress social media head Divya Spandana refuses to be browbeaten over her alleged ‘connections’ with fugitive businessman Vijay Mallya.

Divya Spandana, who went by the screen name of Ramya during her successful stint in Kannada films, and who currently heads the Congress’ social media team, was hauled over the coals on Arnab Goswami’s Republic TV recently for her alleged connections with financial fugitive, Vijay Mallya. However, Divya refuses to be cowed down over her past association with the beleaguered business tycoon.

Soon after the controversy erupted on Republic TV, Divya said, “This was just a bullying tactic to deflect attention from the Piyush Goel controversy. What has my past association with Mr Mallya got to do with the transgression of which he is guilty now? I do not endorse his misdemeanours, but at the same time, I don’t disown my past association with him.”

According to the TV channel’s expose, Vijay Mallya allegedly funded Divya’s holiday to Hong Kong in 2010. However, Divya asserts, “First of all, I wasn’t even in politics in 2010. I was doing very well as an actress, earning enough to not only pay for my own holidays, but also for the holidays of many others. I don’t know how this channel came to the conclusion that it was my first visit to Hong Kong or that it was funded by Mr Mallya. In fact, I had visited Hong Kong on a number of occasions before that too.”

Calling the attack “misogynistic”, Divya refuses to disown her past relations with Vijay Mallya. “I call him Uncle. He is my father’s friend says Divya.

She continues, “Is Mr Mallya a family friend? Yes, he is. And I am not about to shrug that off. Does that mean I endorse his monetary misdemeanours? Not at all. I am completely in favour of him being tried for whatever financial irregularities he is accused of committing.”

Divya says the Congress high command has absolutely nothing to say about this supposed skeleton from her closet. She laughs heartily, “There is no skeleton. I am not even trying to deny the association. But I am amused at the lengths to which certain sections of the media go to deflect attention from actual issues. To even suggest that my holidays need to be paid for by someone else is a highly misogynistic idea, best left to the news channel to chew on and spit out.”

Divya adds that the party is now preparing for a victory in the next Lok Sabha elections. “Even with only 44 people in the Parliament, our voice is being heard. I sincerely feel Mr Rahul Gandhi is ready to take over the reins of the country. I’d rather invest my time and energy in preparing for our victory in the next elections rather than focus on some laughable controversy generated by a TRP-hungry news channel,” she says.