A Gujarat BJP MLA has filed a criminal defamation complaint in a court here against Congress president Rahul Gandhi over his "why all the thieves have Modi in their name" barb.
In his complaint filed Monday, the MLA, Purnesh Modi, claimed Gandhi, with his statement, has defamed the entire Modi community.
The complaint was filed in the sessions court here under IPC sections 499 and 500, both dealing with defamation, and the matter will come up for hearing on April 22.
The ruling party MLA from Surat (West) said the Congress president was defaming the entire Modi community by saying all "Modis are thieves".
He referred to an election rally at Kolar in Karnataka on April 13, where Gandhi asked, "Why all the thieves have Modi in their names, be it Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi and Narendra Modi?"