New Delhi: Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari on Friday sent legal notices to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Party’s General Secretary Jairam Ramesh for allegedly sharing misleading and defamatory news contents regarding him on social media. This has triggered a big political tussle between the leaders of the two parties ahead of the upcoming battle for the Lok Sabha.

It is being alleged that Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh had deliberately posted a 19-second video clip of Nitin Gadkari's interview given to a well-known web portal, concealing the contextual intent and meaning of his words.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Jairam Ramesh had allegedly shared defamatory news contents

Following the incident, the Union Minister decided to drag both of them to the court so that the truth would come out in public.

Nitin Gadkari's lawyer, Balendu Shekhar, said that after the post, which was made on social media X, Gadkari was shocked to know, hear and see the contents and posts from the official handle of the Congress on the microblogging platform.

The notice said a sinister act has been committed with the sole intent and ulterior motive to fan and create confusion, sensation and disrepute to Gadkari in the eyes of public. It said it was also a futile endeavour to create rifts in the solidarity of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is poised to win the trust of people in the upcoming general election under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The notice further said Gadkari's interview was twisted, distorted and presented by uploading the video that is bereft and devoid of the contextual meaning.

The same has been done deliberately and consciously with a selected piece of Hindi caption that says: "Aaj gaon, mazdoor aur kisan dukhi hai. Gaon mein achhe roads nahi hai, peene ke liye shudh pani nahi hai, achhe aspatal nahi hai, achhe schools nahi hai -- Modi sarkar ke mantri Nitin Gadkari (Villages, labourers and farmers are unhappy today. Villages do not have roads, drinking water, good hospitals and schools -- Nitin Gadkari, a minister in the Modi government)." It said Kharge and Ramesh, in spite of being aware of the full contents of Gadkari's interview, wherein the efforts of the government were highlighted, deliberately posted the Hindi caption and the video clip by concealing the contextual meaning of the interaction to malign Gadkari's reputation.

"This legal notice is calling you to remove/delete the above mentioned post from your microbloging site 'X' forthwith and in any event, not later than 24 hours of the receipt of this legal notice, coupled with a written apology to my client within three days, failing which my client would have no other option but to take recourse to all such actions that are open to him, both civil and criminal, at your risk and expense," it said.

(With inputs from PTI)