The BJP Goa unit on Friday said it will send legal notices to Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Girish Chodankar for what it dubbed "baseless defamatory statements" against the ruling party and its legislators.
Legal notices will be sent to Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and Girish Chodankar for defamatory statements, including one that the Goa BJP spent Rs 1,000 crore to lure non-Congress MLAs for forming the new government in the coastal state, BJP Goa unit President Vinay Tendulkar said.
He said the legal notices will be issued to both "either by Friday evening or Saturday morning".
"They have made wild and baseless accusations. We are not going to take it lightly," Tendulkar said.
On Wednesday, Congress Secretary Chodankar claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party spent around Rs 1,000 crore to lure non-Congress MLAs to join the Manohar Parrikar government.
Chodankar said state BJP General Secretary Sadanand Tanavde was in the know of the payout to the MLAs, which Tanavde denied and said the party had "not even given him five paise".
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On the same day, Gandhi said in Delhi that money power was used for buying MLAs in Goa by the BJP.
Chodankar said he will face the legal battle on his alleged defamatory statement.
"They can do whatever they want. I am willing to face them. The BJP will also have to answer why three helicopters landed at Goa airport soon after a senior central minister arrived in the state. What were the helicopters carrying? Crackers from Delhi," Chodankar said.
The BJP won 13 seats in the February 4 assembly elections and formed a government led by Manohar Parrikar with the support of non-Congress MLAs. It won the vote of confidence 22-16 in the Goa assembly on Thursday.
The 22 MLAs who supported the motion included those of the Bharatiya Janata Party (minus the pro-tem Speaker), three each of Goa Forward and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, three Independents and Nationalist Congress Party MLA Churchill Alemao.
The Congress, which emerged as the single largest party with 17 MLAs in the 40-member assembly, accused Governor Mridula Sinha of a partisan and biased attitude against the Congress.
--IANS
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