‘Apologize or face action’: Vinod Tawde sends message to Rahul Gandhi on ‘cash-for-vote’ charge | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Vinod Tawde on Friday sent a legal notice to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and spokesperson Supriya Shrinate over the ‘cash for votes’ allegations, which Tawde has explicitly refuted .
Tawde said he was “severely hurt” by the allegations and that the Congress was “deliberately speaking untruth to the media and people” to defame him and the BJP.
The BJP leader has said that if the Congress leaders do not apologize, he will initiate criminal proceedings under Section 356 (for defamation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and also a civil suit for damages of Rs 100 crores.
“On the eve of the Maharashtra Assembly elections on November 19, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party spokesperson Supriya said Vinod Tawde was caught red-handed with handing out Rs 5 crores to the voters and making all kinds of dramatic statements. wanted to discredit me and my party,” Tawde said.

The BJP general secretary further said, “I am deeply hurt. I come from an ordinary middle class family, for the past 40 years I have been in politics, but I have never done anything like this. Congress leaders wanted to discredit me, party and my leaders deliberately told this untruth to the media and the people. “That is why I have sent them a court notice that they must publicly apologize or face the action.”

The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on Tuesday, a day before the elections, attacked the BJP over the controversy surrounding Vinod Tawde allegedly distributing money to voters.
Congress’ Rahul Gandhi said on Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said the alleged ‘cash for votes’ case was the BJP’s ‘note jihad’ and NCP’s (SP) Supriya Sule wondered where so much money came from after the demonetization.
Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge wrote on X: “PM Modi wants to make Maharashtra ‘safe’ with ‘money power’ and ‘muscle power.’ On one hand, there is a deadly attack on the state’s former Home Minister (Anil Deshmukh), on the other, a senior BJP leader is caught red-handed with Rs 5 crore in cash. The public will respond to this by voting tomorrow.”
Responding to the allegation, Tawde said in his first response: “There are CCTV cameras in the hotel room. I just came to meet party workers.”
“Election Commission officials filmed the venue. For 40 years I was in politics and never gave out any money,” he added.