CM Chouhan’s son files defamation suit against Rahul
Gandhi clarifies corruption remark against Chouhan
BHOPAL: Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s son Kartikeya filed a criminal defamation suit on Tuesday against Congress chief Rahul Gandhi. At a rally in tribal-dominated Jhabua district on Monday, Gandhi had drawn links between Kartikeya and the Panama Papers -- a charge that the CM denied hours later in a tweet.
“Mr @RahulGandhi You have been making patently false allegations of Vyapam to Panama Papers against me and my family. Tomorrow, I am filing a criminal defamation suit for maximum damages against you for frivolous and malafide statements. Let law take its own course now,” Chouhan said in a tweet.
On Tuesday morning, Gandhi clarified his statement.
“I got confused. There are so many scams going on under various BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) governments, but Chouhan is involved in the Vyapam and e-tendering scams,” he told the press.
The chief minister later said he would reconsider his decision of taking legal action if the Congress chief apologised.
In his complaint filed before the court of a special judge in Bhopal, Kartikeya said Rahul Gandhi intentionally levelled irresponsible, concocted, derogatory and defamatory accusations against him.
“As a desperate measure, the Congress party and more particularly its president had been indulging in the process of levelling baseless allegations against the chief minister and his family members with the clear intent to tarnish his image and related persons.” The complaint asks for the maximum punishment, which is imprisonment of up to two years or a fine or both.
November 3 is the date of hearing in the case, according to Shreya Saxena, Kartikeya’s counsel.
Madhya Pradesh goes to the polls on November 28.
The Congress said the defamation plea is likely to be dismissed in court.
“The Congress president didn’t name any chief minister or his son. I fail to understand why chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and his son took it upon themselves. The case sf bound to be dismissed in the court. In fact, the BJP leaders must learn from magnanimity of Rahulji that despite his not naming anybody he offered a clarification on the same,” said state Congress spokesperson Bhupendra Gupta.
State BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said, “The criminal offence committed by Congress president Rahul Gandhi will be tried in the court of law if the latter admits the suit but his political offences will be tried in the court of people. We will tell people how Congress is used to telling lies to derive political mileage in the elections as the party has been rejected by people in the last 15 years. “