Industry Minister Rajvardhan Singh Dattigaon filed a criminal defamation against Congress leader Digvijaya Singh for posting ‘traitor rate card of Rs 35 crore’ on social media for the MLAs, who defected to the Congress, in the special court set up in Bhopal for cases of MLAs and MPs. Dattigaon has demanded Rs 10 crore and punishment for Digvijaya Singh.
Previously, three BJP ministers-- Govind Singh Rajput, Pradyumn Singh Tomar and Mahendra Singh Sisodia along with MLA Munna Lal Goel on Monday filed a civil defamation against Digvijaya Singh.
As per the petition of Dattigaon, 26 MLAs defected to the Congress because of anti-people policies of the Kamal Nath government, which fell down as it became minority government. Later, all MLAs joined the BJP. This has led to by-elections for 28 seats in MP, which is going to poll on November 3. The complainant himself is contesting election from Badnawar constituency.
Referring to Digvijaya Singh, the complainant said that Singh was a former CM and held many posts in the Congress and always tried to defame the BJP candidates. “Singh is spreading negativity in public through social media as well as public platform. So, intentionally Singh uploaded a post in social media on October 17 with photographs of candidates of the BJP stating them as traitors with their rates Rs35 crore and appealed to voters not to vote for those who left the Congress. Similarly, Singh said that voters should be given their due share from Rs 35 crore in the by-elections. It is an insult for the BJP candidates. The main motive of the accused is to spoil image of the BJP candidate in public mindset.
