Irani sends legal notice to 3 Congress netas for Goa bar licence allegations

NEW DELHI: Union minister Smriti Irani on Sunday sent a legal notice to Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D’Souza, seeking an ‘unconditional and unequivocal apology’ from them for their “baseless and false” allegations against her and her daughter.
The BJP leader served the notice a day after the Congress leaders alleged that her 18-year-old daughter Zoish Irani ran a bar illegally in Goa and also targeted the minister over this, demanding that PM Narendra Modi sack her from his cabinet.
If they do not tender an unconditional and unequivocal apology and withdraw their allegations, Irani will initiate civil and criminal proceedings against them, the legal notice said.
“The false allegations were intended to hurt the reputation of our client as a minister and a person in public life, and also to outrage her modesty and that of her daughter,” the notice said. It said the Congress leaders stooped to a new low, morally and ethically, by attacking Irani’s daughter who is in her first year at university and at the threshold of a new chapter of her life pursuing her professional aspirations.
Zoish Irani has never applied for any licence for “running” any bar or for any business enterprise, it said, adding that she has not been served with any showcause notice from the excise department in Goa. These allegations have been made with the knowledge of their falsity or at least in careless disregard of the truth, it said.