Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has not sued his own party parliamentarian Kirti Azad, who dared him in tweets this morning and targeted him indirectly in Parliament.
Flanked by top ministers and BJP leaders,
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley went to a Delhi court today to file a defamation case against Arvind Kejriwal and other Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders for accusing him of corruption in Delhi's cricket body, which he headed for 13 years till 2013.
Mr Jaitley, who has also filed a civil suit demanding Rs 10 crore in damages, was accompanied by ministers Venkaiah Naidu, Smriti Irani and Piyush Goyal.
In a packed courtroom, the minister's lawyer said he "didn't take a single penny' from the DDCA or Delhi and District Cricket Association. AAP had caused irreparable damage to his reputation with false allegations, the lawyer said, citing Facebook posts, tweets and reports.
Mr Kejriwal said in a tweet: "Mr Jaitley should not try to intimidate us with a court case. Our fight against corruption will continue." He also said the minister should cooperate with the Delhi government's inquiry.
AAP has said it will file a First Information Report against Mr Jaitley and has also called a special assembly session.
Mr Jaitley has not sued his own party parliamentarian Kirti Azad, who dared him in tweets this morning and targeted him indirectly in Parliament.
On Sunday, the former cricketer stopped short of naming Mr Jaitley while addressing a press conference alleging massive bungling in the DDCA. Mr Azad said contracts were given to fake companies, crores were paid to them in cash and accounts were fudged.
The lawmaker, who went public with the allegations despite his party chief Amit Shah asking him not to, said he was a "fan" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's campaign against corruption and wanted to counter corruption.
A combative Mr Jaitley rubbished the allegations in Parliament and said he was ready to answer all charges. "The whole charge is baseless," he said as Congress protested in the house.
Kirti Azad said: "Instead of disrupting proceedings, Congress should instead demand a time-bound, Special Investigation Team-monitored probe."
Mr Jaitley's defamation suit comes after he told reporters last week that he would fight the allegations politically.