Siddaramaiah slaps legal notice on Modi

Just few days away to Karnataka assembly polls which is fought like a war, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has slapped a legal notice on the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a public apology for making defamatory remarks against him in election campaign and through advertisements in print and television channels. The notice served on Monday  by congress leader and advocate VS Ugrappa says failing which a law suit would be initiated seeking damage to the tune of Rs 100 crore.

In the copy of the notice, made available to media, the Counsel for Siddaramaiah, V S Ugrappa, who is also Congress spokesperson, said in the notice that the Prime Minister ''unabatedly had made several defamatory and untrue statements in  speeches during the election campaign''. 

Notice say that Modi’s speeches in Karnataka like  ''Karnataka Ki Congress Sarkar 10 per cent Ki Sarkar Hai' and  ‘Karnataka government indulging in ease of doing murders’ has invited the legal wrath.

The notice referred the  election speeches of Modi  at  Mysore, Davanagere where he(Modi) declared the Siddaramaiah government as ''seeda rupaiya sarkar'' and repeated them again in meetings in Gulbarga, Bellaru and Bengaluru.

The notice also referred to various allegations of corruption and said that the allegations are false fabricated and politically motivated with an intention to defame Siddaramaiah and his political party.  These statements which drew the attention of a lot of his relatives and well-wishers to whom Siddaramaiah had to explain that they were circulated without any verification, and were totally false, offensive and defamatory in nature besides affecting his reputation.

The notice said '' these imputations of irregular dealings, unprofessional conduct or dishonesty is bound to affect my client's reputation in the eyes of the public, the government officials, the intelligentsia and his peers besides causing mental agony to him.

It said that the remarks made by the Prime Minister and the BJP were offences punishable under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and sought a public apology failing which a legal suit would be initiated as per the provisions of the law and seeking a damage to the tune of Rs.100 crore.