'Chatur', 'Fad-noise': Amruta Fadnavis, Priyanka Chaturvedi's Twitter Spat

A complaint by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's wife, Amruta Fadnavis, against a designer has triggered a war of words on Twitter. Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and Amruta Fadnavis have been taking jibes at each other over the bizarre case involving allegations of threats and conspiracy.

A woman named "Aniksha" and her father have been named by Amruta Fadnavis in a First Information Report (FIR) filed on February 20. She alleges that the woman had tried to bribe her, offering her Rs 1 crore to intervene in a criminal case involving her father, who has allegedly evaded arrest for years. Aniksha allegedly also offered to give information on bookies "to help her earn money".

Aniksha is the daughter of a wanted bookie, Anil Jaisinghani.

Priyanka Chaturvedi, a leader of Uddhav Thackeray's party, shared a news clipping about Ms Fadnavis's complaint and expressed surprise over how the daughter of a criminal gained access to the house of Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the state's home minister. She also sought an independent investigation in the matter, as Maharashtra police reports to Mr Fadnavis.

In a no-holds-barred reply, Amruta Fadnavis said that the MP had falsely accused her of helping Axis Bank and was now challenging her honesty.

"Madam चतुर (clever), earlier you falsely claimed that I brought benefits to AxisBank & now you are challenging my honesty? Of course-after gaining ur confidence, if someone-had approached you to close cases by offering money-you would have helped such person thru ur master-that's your औक़ात (character)," Ms Fadnavis tweeted.

Ms Chaturvedi hit back with a pun of her own. "Thankfully my aukaat (character) isn't taking designer clothes for promotion that leads to messy situations later, Ms Fad-noise. I don't know why a demand for independent investigation has rattled you so much& honestly you should have reported her the day she gave you money making tips! (sic)," she tweeted.

Based on Ms Fadnavis' complaint, Mumbai Police has filed a case against the woman and her father for conspiracy under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The woman allegedly contacted Ms Fadnavis first in November 2021. After that, she met with her 16 times, Ms Fadnavis has said.

In their first meeting, the woman had claimed to have lost her mother, the FIR says. Ms Fadnavis alleged that the woman once lied to her bodyguard and sat in her car. She allegedly told her that her father had been giving information about bookies to the police and offered a plan to make money.