Kangana Ranaut issued a clarification after a controversial picture surfaced on social media over the last few days. In the picture, she is seen with a man who, claimed to be gangster Abu Salem. The actor-turned-politician took to her Instagram Stories and said that it is not true and the man in the picture is a former journalist. Kangana is currently the Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate for Himachal Pradesh's Mandi Lok Sabha seat. 

What Kangana said

Kangana shared a screenshot of the picture, in which she was seen smiling with a man, and wrote in the caption, “Desperate Congress officials are spreading this picture with the caption that I am partying with Gangster AbuSalem, this is utterly disrespectful to journalist Mr Mark Manuel who is ex entertainment editor of times of India. He is not AbuSalem and this picture is from one of film promotion event parties.”

More details

Last week, Kangana had shared series of pictures with PM Narendra Modi, who had visited Mandi on May 24 and addressed a rally. She greeted the PM and handed him a red rose in one of the photos. In a public meeting, she expressed gratitude for the opportunity to work under PM Modi's leadership and said, "The day has arrived to work under the guidance of PM Modi. Hailing PM Modi is like showing a candle to the sun himself. The technical and modern developmental works he has done are tremendous. Now I'm too part of his team and committed to the developmental works for Mandi as a party worker."

Kangana will be next seen in Emergency, in which she plays Indira Gandhi. It is written by Ritesh Shah, who also penned Kangana’s film Dhaakad, which failed at the box office. Besides Kangana, actors Anupam Kher, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry, Satish Kaushik and Shreyas Talpade will also be seen in key roles in the film. The release date of the film in undecided.