Mumbai: A day after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari sent her a legal notice, whistleblower and India Against Corruption (IAC) activist Anjali Damania said she is ready to take on Gadkari in a legal battle.
"I have not said anything that's a lie. I am ready to fight a legal battle against Nitin Gadkari," she said.
She also expressed her dismay and amazement over the fact that in his legal notice to her, Gadkari has made no mention of him having ever met her.
Gadkari had on Thursday served a legal notice on Damania for claiming that he had said his party would not go after the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), whose ministers were being accused in the mega irrigation scam, as he had business links with NCP president Sharad Pawar.
"You have made false statements and insinuated that my client has business relations with Sharad Pawar and, as a result, my client tried to dissuade you from proceeding on the irrigation scam and tried to restrain you from filing a public interest litigation to expose it," said the notice.
Damania is instrumental in blowing the lid off the Rs 72,000 crore scam.
Damania had earlier said that when she met Gadkari in August at his home in Worli, Mumbai, he told her to not push too hard to expose the scam.
Damania said the BJP's attitude was very discouraging, as was that of Gadkari, who allegedly was having business ties with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar. Damania said ''the opposition party chief'' told her "we help Pawar and he helps us, can't do anything in this scam."
She claimed to have met Gadkari thrice, once in Delhi in June 2011 and twice in Mumbai, in August 2011 and August 14 this year.
"Since the NCP and the Congress are together, we went to the opposition party, but they strictly told me that they could not do anything about it. Their party president himself told me that he could not do anything regarding this; he shares businesses with Sharad Pawar. They help each other in their matters. So, he could not do anything about it. We were shocked after getting such kind of a reply," she said.
The BJP is in the opposition in Maharashtra. NCP leader Ajit Pawar, who has submitted his resignation from the post of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, has been accused by his political opponents of being involved in the irrigation scam when he was the state's water resources minister.
ANI
First Published: Friday, September 28, 2012, 12:37