Gadkari not to campaign in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday

Zeenews Bureau

Nagpur: Battling serious allegations of corporate fraud, BJP president Nitin Gadkari has cancelled his visit to poll-bound Himachal Pradesh scheduled on Tuesday. As per reports, the BJP chief has decided to stay in Nagpur to prepare his defence against the alleged vilification campaign started by a section of media against him. Sources close to Gadkari have revealed that the BJP chief might issue legal notices to media for targeting him and leveling "untrue and unsusbtantiated" allegations. Gadkari, who had addressed election rallies in Kinnaur and Shimla last Saturday, is under tremendous political pressure from within the party and rivals to quit. Gadkari had also threatened to file civil and criminal cases against media houses "defaming" him as part of a "conspiracy" allegedly hatched by the Congress. "Some media groups are acting as agents of Congress party. Two English TV channels and one English national daily are responsible for the campaign against me," Gadkari said. "A big media group had routed black money parked in London via Mauritius and manipulated shares worth Rs.10 each by selling them at Rs.38,000 each," he alleged. He, however, did not name the media house, but claimed he possessed relevant documents. Gadkari is under scanner over dubious funding of his firm Purti Power and Sugar Ltd that received huge investments and big loans from a construction firm Ideal Road Builders (IRB) group, which was favoured by him in awarding big contracts between 1995 and 1999, when he served as PWD minister in Maharashtra.