By IANS,
Raipur : Chhattisgarh’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ajay Chandrakar has filed a defamation case against Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Planning V. Narayanasamy for allegedly accusing him of corruption.
“I was forced to file a case against the union minister as he accused me in August last year at a press conference and again in January this year of serious allegations of corruption amounting Rs.1,000 crore (Rs.10 billion) when I was minister of panchayat and rural development in the BJP government till I lost the assembly polls in November 2008,” Chandrakar told IANS Tuesday.
Chandrakar’s counsel Ramakant Mishra filed the case against Narayanasamy Monday before the court of First Class Judicial Magistrate Pankaj Jain, seeking action against the minister who is Congress general secretary and in charge of party affairs in Chhattisgarh.
The BJP leader said he moved court as the allegation had “severely damaged my image as a politician and also caused me huge mental tension during recent months which was one of the reasons I lost the assembly polls”.
Chandrakar had contested polls from his home turf – Kurud seat in Dhamtari district – and lost to the Congress.
Narayanasamy had allegedly repeatedly accused Chandrakar and his relatives of gross financial irregularities amounting to Rs.10 billion meant for National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) during his trips to Chhattisgarh in the run up to November assembly polls in which BJP retained power.