New Delhi:
BJP president Nitin Gadkari visited a Delhi court today to formally sue Digvijaya Singh for defamation.
Mr Singh, who is a senior Congress leader, had alleged in a series of interviews last month that Ajay Sancheti, a Rajya Sabha MP and an entrepreneur from Nagpur, is Mr Gadkari's business partner.
The Congress says that Mr Sancheti was given a sweetheart deal for a coal mine in Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP is in power, on account of his close links to the party's chief.
Both the BJP and Mr Sancheti have denied the charges.
In a legal notice sent to Mr Singh a few weeks ago, the BJP chief said the remarks against him were "completely concocted, defamatory, scandalous and un-parliamentary." (
Read notice here)
When asked if he would apologise, Mr Singh had said "
Main kabhi maafi nahin maangta (I never say I am sorry)."
The government and the BJP have been trading charges over a coal policy that allegedly helped private players get windfall benefits of upto Rs. 1.86 lakh crores, according to the national auditor or CAG.
The Congress says it implemented the policies that were followed by the preceding BJP-led NDA government.
The BJP, however, uses the CAG report to accuse the government of crony capitalism by giving coal fields at a fraction of their market value to businessmen who were close to the Congress.
Here's the cover note of Mr Gadkari's case against Digvijaya Singh: