Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath has sent legal notices to two senior BJP leaders for making "false and defamatory" allegations that he favoured Chinese firms by reducing import duty when he was a Union minister, his counsel said on Wednesday.
Nath, through his lawyer Varun Tankha, has sent notices to BJP national vice-president Prabhat Jha and the ruling party's state president, V D Sharma, on June 30.
Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee president Kamal Nath has sent legal notices to BJP vice-president Prabhat Jha and MP state president V D Sharma for accusations of favouring Chinese firms," Tankha said.
The notices drew the attention of "defamatory" statements issued by both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders against Nath which were widely circulated in various newspapers and also in the electronic media on June 26-27, he said.
Nath sent the legal notices to the two BJP leaders on June 30, he said.
Tankha said "no public record supports any part of these false allegations. Decisions Nath took during his tenure as Union Minister for Commerce and Industry from 2004 to 2009 were as per the norms."
During Nath's tenure as Union minister, anti-dumping duty against Chinese companies was higher which goes to suggest he never favoured any Chinese firm or for that matter entity of any country, he said.
It is a general practice in the Union government that any increase or decrease in tariffs is a concerted effort taken after Cabinet approval and much scrutiny, he said.
The BJP leaders made baseless allegations about the Chinese firms transferring illegal amounts to the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, Tankha said.
The accusations of Sharma that Nath took money for development works in Chhindwara, the latter's home district, is also baseless, he said.
Tankha said "no public record supports any part of these false allegations."
The notices said "the statements (of the two BJP leaders) are purely an offence mechanism to protect your partys (BJP) politically reducing turf in the wake of upcoming by-elections of 24 constituencies in Madhya Pradesh."
The notices seek reply from Jha and Sharma within seven days of their receipt failing which Nath will be constrained to initiate appropriate legal action, Tankha said.
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