Gujarat Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil Tuesday said he would file criminal and civil defamation suits against Chief Minister Vijay Rupani for stating that the opposition party's "Bihar in-charge" was responsible for the recent attacks on Hindi-speaking migrants in the state.
Gohil is in charge of the Congress party's affairs in Bihar.
Several districts in the northern parts of Gujarat were rocked by violence after a labourer from Bihar was arrested on the charge of raping a 14-month-old girl in Sabarkantha district on September 28.
It led to the exodus of thousands of migrants from the state.
Speaking to reporters in Lucknow Monday, Rupani, without mentioning anyone by name, had said the Congress party's Bihar in-charge was responsible for the violence, adding that over 50 of those arrested in this connection were Congress workers.
Incidentally, Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor is the party's Bihar in-charge secretary.
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The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has, on several occasions, blamed Thakor and his outfit, the Kshatriya Thakor Sena, for the violence. BJP leaders have also pointed out that several FIRs lodged by the Gujarat police in connection with the violence mentioned Thakor's outfit.
Thakor has consistently refuted the allegations, claiming that the cases lodged against the youth of the Thakor community were false.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Gohil said, "I will file civil and criminal defamation suits against the Gujarat chief minister for his statement that the Congress's Bihar in-charge was responsible for violence against migrants in our state.
"I will first send him a legal notice tomorrow and give him two weeks' time to clarify. If he fails to apologise, I will approach the court."