Cong leader Tankha files defamation complaint against MP CM, minister

Congress MP and senior lawyer Vivek Tankha on Tuesday filed a criminal defamation complaint in a court here against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and two others over certain remarks about the OBC reservation case in the Supreme Court.

Besides Chouhan, state BJP chief V D Sharma and Urban Administration minister Bhupendra Singh too have been made respondents, said Tankha's lawyer, advocate Shashank Shekhar.

The complaint alleges that these persons defamed the Congress Rajya Sabha member by propagating incorrect facts about the proceedings of the OBC quota case in the apex court, he said.

The complaint was filed after Chouhan, V D Sharma and Bhupendra Singh did not reply to a legal notice sent earlier, the lawyer added.

The complaint was filed under IPC sections 499 and 500 which deal with defamation, said Shekhar.

The district court has not yet taken cognizance of the matter.

On December 19, 2021, Tankha had sent a legal notice to Chouhan and others, asking for apology. The apex court stayed OBC quota in Panchayat Polls in Madhya Pradesh after Congress leader Manmohan Nagar, president of Bhopal Jila Panchayat, moved the SC, claiming that the state government had violated constitutional provisions on reservation rotation and delimitation for Panchayat polls.

Tankha was Nagar's lawyer.

BJP leaders in the state then alleged that the Congress was against the OBCs.

Minister Bhupendra Singh had claimed that the stay came only because the opposition party dragged the issue to the court.