Prashant Kishor slapped with defamation suit by Bihar minister Ashok Choudhary
Patna, Jun 3 (PTI): Senior Bihar minister Ashok Choudhary on Tuesday filed a defamation suit against Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor for alleging that he had bribed Union minister Chirag Paswan to secure a Lok Sabha ticket for his daughter.
Choudhary, whose daughter Shambhavi is Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MP from the reserved constituency of Samastipur, spoke to journalists at the civil court.
Kishor, however, said he cannot be intimidated by filing cases.
"After Prashant Kishor made objectionable remarks against my daughter and me, I sent him a legal notice, to which his reply was unsatisfactory. He clearly has no regret for what he had said," the JD(U) national general secretary said.
"I have therefore taken recourse to legal remedy. I challenged Prashant Kishor to prove that I had paid money to Chirag Paswan or withdraw his allegations with an apology. I am determined to take this fight to the Supreme Court, if the need arises," he added.
Choudhary described Kishor, a former poll strategist who had been briefly associated with the JD(U), as "a political trader, who has offered his services to parties of all hues for a fee".
"In contrast, we are purely in politics. I am myself a second-generation politician. My daughter is the youngest MP. Prashant Kishor is unable to digest this feat of a Dalit girl," alleged Choudhary, a key aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Choudhary's late father Mahavir Choudhary had been a minister when the state was ruled by the Congress.
Kishor, who has been digging in his heels since Choudhary threatened him with legal action, struck a defiant note, maintaining "I am not a mafia who can be intimidated by filing cases".
"What I have said about Ashok Choudhary's daughter, has been for long talked about in villages across Bihar. He can slap as many cases against me as he pleases. I am not going to be cowed down. In a state, where a Panchayat mukhiya moves around with at least four gunmen, I have been travelling on foot without a single security personnel", the Jan Suraaj Party founder told reporters.
"When I have done no wrong, why should I worry? This government had got me picked up in the thick of night, by deploying personnel from 20 police stations. But they had to let me off," said Kishor.
He was referring to his arrest in January when he was on a fast unto death in support of candidates of an examination conducted by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) demanding its cancellation.
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'Rear-guard action': BJP over Mamata accepting sports minister's resignation after Messi event
New Delhi (PTI): The BJP on Tuesday alleged that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's accepting Aroop Biswas' resignation as the state sports minister is nothing but a "rear-guard action" to douse public anger over the mismanagement of football icon Lionel Messi's event last week.
BJP co-in-charge for West Bengal Amit Malviya alleged that this is also an "open confession" that the Messi event fiasco was not accidental but a government-manufactured disaster, borne out of the poor governance of Banerjee, her ministers and the state bureaucracy.
Banerjee on Tuesday accepted Biswas' resignation as the sports minister in the wake of the controversy over the mismanagement of football icon Messi's event last week, a senior leader of the ruling TMC said.
Biswas, who had written to the chief minister seeking to be relieved of his responsibilities as sports minister, will continue as a cabinet minister, retaining charge of the power department.
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Reacting to the development, Malviya said in a post on X, "TMC Sports Minister Aroop Biswas resigns after the Messi fiasco and Mamata Banerjee accepts it in record time."
"Do not mistake this for accountability; this is nothing but a rear-guard action to douse public anger. anger! This is not 'Raj Dharma'," he added.
The BJP leader alleged that the incident was the outcome of "loot" of common people which is "so synonymous" with the TMC.
The incident was also the outcome of the "shameless VIP culture that TMC thrives on and deep-rooted cronyism promoted by Banerjee," he charged.
Malviya further alleged that Biswas' resignation exposes a "collective failure of Mamata Banerjee, her partisan bureaucracy, and her crony cabinet".
"This is a symbolic sacrifice, a political hoax, soon to be buried under layers of bureaucracy, with no justice, no accountability, and no remorse," the BJP leader said, adding, "No resignation will bring back the time lost, the money wasted, or the stolen chance for football lovers to witness Messi in Kolkata."
