| Credit: Mumbai Mirror
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Men at war
The Nach Baliye contestants Rajiv Paul and Manish Goyal fracas
Reena Thapar Kapoor
In a cruel twist of fate, friends often turn foes in tinsel-town. So, with the rising popularity of Nach Baliye, and a gruelling race to the finish, what started of as 'we are one big happy family' has turned into a battleground. With the stakes as high as Rs 50 lakhs, the war has got worse. The latest victims are friends-cum-competitors Rajiv Paul and Manish Goyal who've had a fallout.
Rajiv and Manish are miffed with each other. This unfortunate situation has been attributed to the excessive publicity and cutthroat competition between the two. Last week the industry was rife with rumours of the Goyals – Poonam and Manish – being voted out. Of course, when the final result was revealed, it was Apoorva Agnihotri and Shilpa Saklani who were eliminated. Around that time an angry Manish chose to make not-so-discreet inquiries about the source behind this erroneous and baseless information.
"I was told that it was Rajiv who instigated the rumours about Poonam and I getting voted out last week," says Manish. "Initially, it was a bit disheartening for me to learn that it was my own friend who was doing this to me. I don't know what's true and what isn't. All I can say is that it's best to mind your own business and do your own thing."
This is not the first time that the Pauls have got themselves embroiled in a controversy with Nach Baliye. Responding to the issue, Rajiv says, "Why on this earth would I talk ill about my own friend. I think someone's intentionally causing a rift between Manish and me." Responding to stories about surviving in the serial solely on votes, he says, "Why would I plant stories like that? If at all I wanted to create news by resorting to false stories I'd rather do it for myself." Rajiv believes that there is an anti-Paul campaign doing the rounds of the industry. "I don't care what others feel about me. I know that I'm a clean-hearted person who means no harm. Especially to people who I consider my friends. But, I refuse to go around defending myself. Still, if Manish thinks that I'm the culprit, then he should thank me for giving him so much publicity."
Eyewitnesses on the sets of Nach Baliye have observed the cold vibes between the two. In fact, the men have been ignoring each other ever since the competition boiled down to the last four couples.
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