With Maharashtra Assembly election results just a day away, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vinod Tawde sent a legal notice and demanded an apology from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi for making “false and baseless” allegations against him in the cash-for-votes incident in Maharashtra.
He also said that if they don’t do the same, then he would sue them for defamation. This comes after Tawde was accused by Bahujan Vikas Aghadi of distributing Rs 5 crore to woo voters, with its members barging into a hotel room on November 19 in a Mumbai suburb, where he was present.
Amid the heat over charges in the case, the former Maharashtra minister and BJP national general secretary claimed innocence. He said that the alleged amount was not recovered in the probe by the Election Commission and police. “The Congress only believes in spreading lies, and this incident is a proof of the party’s low-level politics to dent me and my party’s image,” Tawde said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
The two senior Congress leaders and the spokesperson of the grand old party Supriya Shrinate seized on the row to accuse the saffron party of using money power to influence the November 20 assembly polls in the state. The legal notice sent to the three claimed that they were aware that they were pushing a “totally false story fabricated” by them.
“You all have deliberately, mischievously, with the sole intention of damaging the reputation of our client, intentionally fabricated the story distribution of money. You all have published false, baseless allegations against our client on various media for tarnishing his image in the eyes of right-thinking people in society,” the notice read, as quoted by PTI.
The Congress leaders were in a “great hurry” to damage Tawde’s reputation; they did not bother to check the fact, and despite knowing the entire fact, they made the false, baseless allegations, it stated.
“The entire imputation made by you all are totally false, baseless, malicious and mala fide and as our client is in no way involved in any such illegal activity and as a responsible office bearer of the national political party he is aware of his duties,” it further stated. The notice demanded an “unconditional apology” to Tawde within 24 hours from the time the receipt of the notice, which was sent on November 21, and published in newspapers and X.
Congress’s only agenda – to spread lies!
I have filed a defamation case against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and their party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate for their baseless allegations in the Nallasopara case. Despite their attempts to tarnish my image… pic.twitter.com/f15Q7qlmDf
— Vinod Tawde (@TawdeVinod) November 22, 2024
If they do not offer an apology, then Tawde will initiate criminal proceedings under Section 356, which covers defamation, of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and also civil proceedings for the damages of Rs 100 crore against the three Congress leaders, the notice said.