Vishwas says he won’t apologise ...but Sanjay Singh settles litigation
DEFAMATION SUIT Senior AAP leader says party should stand by its position against graft
I will not issue any apology to anyone, no matter how powerful they might be. Several defamatory cases have been filed against me and I have and will continue to fight those till my last breath
KUMAR VISHWAS, senior Aam Aadmi Party leader
NEW DELHI : Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas on Monday refused to apologise to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley after the party chief and his aides sent out letters expressing their “regret” for defamatory statements made in 2015.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and senior AAP leaders Sanjay Singh, Ashutosh, Raghav Chadha and Deepak Bajpai, sent out apology letters to Jaitley on Monday, managing a settlement in court for the defamation cases filed against them in a Delhi court and the High Court. However, Vishwas said he stayed out on “moral grounds”.
Kejriwal had alleged irregularities in the functioning of the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA), which was once headed by Jaitley.
“I will not issue any apology to anyone, no matter how powerful they might be. Several defamatory cases have been filed against me and I have and will continue to fight those till my last breath,” Vishwas said on Monday.
He also said that an apology to political adversaries, whom the party has dared to call out for their corruption, was betraying the party cadre.
“Hundreds of party volunteers have defamation cases against them because they stood by the statements made by the AAP leaders. If the party is so keen on getting rid of the cases against their senior functionaries, then it should also take measures of helping the ground level worker, who is still fighting against the system with his own hard-earned money,” he said.
AAP leaders refused to comment on Vishwas’ remarks and his decision to not apologise to Jaitley.
Vishwas’s decision to not move any plea to settle the litigation will lead to the continuation of the defamation case against him.
The poet-turned-politician had criticised the party’s “strategy” from day one, when Kejriwal had started his apology spree in March, by sending a letter to former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia, for accusing him of his involvement with the drug cartel in the state.
“I have been regularly dropping my shows to attend several court hearings related to 2013, 14 and 15 poll campaign without any legal assistance from AAP. Another one pending tomorrow (March 16) and I have been again engaging my personal lawyers for this. Will carry on this fight. Jai Hind,” Vishwas had tweeted after Kejriwal’s apology to Majithia.
The AAP had in an official statement said that this was their strategy to drop the string of defamatory cases against their leaders, so that they can concentrate their energies in serving the people instead of attending to litigation. NEWDELHI: Sanjay Singh, a founding member of the Aam Aadmi Party, apologised to Union finance minister Arun Jaitley, along with party chief Arvind Kejriwal, for defamatory remarks made against the senior BJP leader. But Singh had refused to join issue with Kejriwal when the Delhi chief minister had issued an apology to former Punjab minister Bikram Singh Majithia in a similar case.
Besides, Singh and Kejriwal, AAP leaders Ashutosh, Deepak Bajpai and Raghav Chadha also apologised to Jaitley on Monday to settle an over two-year-old defamation litigation filed by the union minister.
On March 15, when Kejriwal had apologised to Majithia, Singh had criticised the party’s stand to retract from its statements made during the assembly election campaign in Punjab. He had said that he will continue fighting the defamation case in a court in Amritsar. While Majithia dropped cases against Kejriwal and AAP leader Ashish Khetan, the defamation suit against Singh stands. Kejriwal, Singh and senior AAP leader Ashish Khetan were slapped with a defamation suit by Majithia for alleging his involvement in the drug racket in Punjab.
“People like Majithia should be put behind bars. He has ruined an entire generation in Punjab. I will not issue any apology to him,” Singh, now an AAP Rajya Sabha member, had said then.
On Monday, after his letter of apology to Jaitley was submitted before a Delhi court for a settlement, Singh refused to comment.
Kejriwal is facing over 25 court cases, including 10 defamation cases across the country.
Party sources said the decision to end court cases by issuing public apologies was taken as the party’s legal team was finding it difficult to manage a string of defamatory cases against Kejriwal and other senior leaders.
“After Ram Jethmalani withdrew from the Jaitley defamation case, the legal team panicked. The party’s image would have suffered if the cases wouldn’t have gone in AAP’S favour,” a party source said.