Actor Riteish Deshmukh and Union minister Piyush Goyal are locked in a verbal duel after the latter made a comment about the actor taking a tour of a hotel ravaged by the 26/11 attacks along with his father and former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and a Bollywood filmmaker.

Mr. Goyal sparked the spat by making the comment at a BJP rally in Punjab on Sunday. He said, “You remember the 26/11 terror attacks. The then Congress government was weak and could not do anything. The then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had brought a film producer outside Oberoi Hotel while the shooting and bombing was going on. He was concerned about getting his child a film role.”

On Monday evening, Mr. Deshmukh took to Twitter to hit back at Mr. Goyal. “It is true that I had visited the Taj/Oberoi Hotel but untrue that I was there while the ‘Shooting and Bombing’ was happening as you claimed. It is true that I had accompanied my father but untrue that he was trying to get me a role in a film.”

He added, “You have every right to question a CM but it is wrong to accuse someone who is not here to defend himself. A bit late, 7yrs ago - He would have replied to you.” The actor signed off by conveying his best wishes for Mr. Goyal’s campaign.

Mr. Goyal raked up the issue on Tuesday in Varanasi. He said that though Mr. Deshmukh did not visit the hotel when it was being attacked, the act of going there later with a film producer was detestable. “It happened because his father was CM. It was a high-security area. Everybody came to know the reason after we saw the film in 2013. The CM had to resign because of this,” he said, adding that the truth can’t be hidden by using flowery language.