Sanjay Dutt's sister denies feud claims

Mumbai: The decision by Mumbai actor Sanjay Dutt to contest elections on a Samajwadi Party ticket has disappointed his family that has always been loyal to the Congress, a family member said.

Though disappointed, the family said the actor was free to make his own choices.

"Sanjay can take his own personal decisions just as I take my own," Priya Dutt, an MP and sister to the actor said.

Dutt, addressing a press conference, claimed a newspaper had misinterpreted her statements.

"What is important for us is maintaining the name of my parents who should not be dragged into this matter," she said.

Her late actor parents, Nargis and Sunil Dutt, were solid backers of the Congress.

"In fact, my father didn't contest elections twice though he got offers from other parties," she said.

The senior Dutt joined the Congress in 1984 and was elected to Parliament five times by the Mumbai North-West constituency.

He did not contest the 1996 and 1998 elections as he was preoccupied with the case against his son in the 1993 Bombay serial bomb blasts.

Priya's statement that appeared in the Hindustan Times stirred up controversy over the family's unity and revealed her dislike for her brother's wife, Maanyata.

The paper quoted Priya as saying: "My father would never have associated with the Samajwadi Party. For the first time since he died I am thankful he is no longer alive to see this ignominy."

Manipulated

Priya was also quoted as saying that the decision to join politics was not Sanjay's, but rather, was Maanyata's since her brother was "far too busy with films to find the time for politics."

She reportedly hinted that her brother's wife had manipulated him to further her own ambitions.

However, at the press conference, Priya insisted that there was no family feud.

"We have, as a family, always given support to each other and I stand by my family," she said.