Cong sends legal notice to Prabhat Jha, V D Sharma

Bhopal: Congress’s Rajya Sabha MP and eminent lawyer Vivek Tankha’s law firm on Wednesday served legal notices to BJP national vice-president Prabhat Jha and state BJP chief

V D Sharma

for making “patently false, incorrect statements” which “were highly defamatory in nature” against former chief minister Kamal Nath.

The legal notices are related to Jha and Sharma’s recent statements alleging that Nath as Union commerce minister reduced import duties on Chinese products and the money received in return were given to Congress and the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

The legal notice to Jha drew the BJP leader’s attention to his statement of June 26, when he alleged there was a reason why Congress was “talking the language of China”.

Jha had claimed, “It is because of Nath, who during his stint as commerce minister in the UPA government had acted at the behest of China.”

Following Jha’s statement, state BJP president Sharma had claimed that Nath destroyed livelihoods of crores of small traders and manufacturers by letting Chinese firms dump their goods in the country at the behest of the Gandhi family. “The act was no less than treason and a crime,” he said.

The notice gave Jha and Sharma seven days “to immediately tender an unconditional apology in writing” and issue a clarification by holding a press conference with regard to their defamatory statements failing which legal proceedings — both civil and criminal — will be initiated.

Speaking to TOI, Jha said, “The Congress party should initiate the defamatory suits first with those television channels, which had exposed that Nath reduced import duties on Chinese goods. The revelations were made by journalists before I spoke on the subject.”

Jha had claimed that Congress received money from China and the funds were sent to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. He alleged that Nath played a key role in the Congress’s entente with China. “If I say in my own language that he was working as an agent of China, I will not be wrong,” the BJP leader had said.

Jha had alleged that Nath had reduced import duty on 250 items which were available in plenty in the country.

The legal notice to Jha said, “All statements issued by you against Mr Kamal Nath is downright canard and scurrilous allegation perpetuated to wrongly benefit your party both in Madhya Pradesh and nationally by besmirching the reputation of a tall leader.”

The notice further added, “Your objective to spread canard and falsehood in every nook and corner of the state and the country so as to discredit the Congress leadership in the eyes of the approximately 7.5 crore people of MP is writ large.”

To both Jha and Sharma, the notice alleged that the statements were made keeping the upcoming by-elections in 24 assembly seats in the state.

“Your statement dated 26.06.2020 has caused irreparable injury and loss of reputation to my client and you deliberately with mala fide intent, have disseminated this false information to hurt the prospects of the Indian National Congress in the forthcoming bypolls,” the notice to Jha said.

BJP spokesman Rajneesh Agarwal said, “After we receive the legal notices, an appropriate legal reply will be given.”


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