Nagpur: Union minister Nitin Gadkari took legal action against Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary Jairam Ramesh on Friday for allegedly sharing misleading and defamatory news contents about him on X.

Gadkari's legal representative, Balendu Shekhar, conveyed Gadkari's shock upon discovering the content shared by the official Congress handle on the microblogging platform.

Shekhar further asserted that Kharge and Ramesh intentionally shared a 19-second excerpt from Gadkari's interview with "The Lallantop" web portal. This clip, according to Shekhar, distorted the intended context and meaning of Gadkari's statements.

The legal notice said a sinister act has been committed with the sole intent and ulterior motive to fan and create confusion, sensation and disrepute to Gadkari in the eyes of public. It said it was also a futile endeavour to create rifts in the solidarity of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is poised to win the trust of people in the upcoming general election under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The notice further said Gadkari's interview was twisted, distorted and presented by uploading the video that is bereft and devoid of the contextual meaning. The same has been done deliberately and consciously with a selected piece of Hindi caption that says: "Aaj gaon, mazdoor aur kisan dukhi hai. Gaon mein achhe roads nahi hai, peene ke liye shudh pani nahi hai, achhe aspatal nahi hai, achhe schools nahi hai -- Modi sarkar ke mantri Nitin Gadkari (Villages, labourers and farmers are unhappy today. Villages do not have roads, drinking water, good hospitals and schools -- Nitin Gadkari, a minister in the Modi government)."

It said Kharge and Ramesh, in spite of being aware of the full contents of Gadkari's interview, wherein the efforts of the government were highlighted, deliberately posted the Hindi caption and the video clip by concealing the contextual meaning of the interaction to malign Gadkari's reputation.

"This legal notice is calling you to remove/delete the above mentioned post from your microbloging site 'X' forthwith and in any event, not later than 24 hours of the receipt of this legal notice, coupled with a written apology to my client within three days, failing which my client would have no other option but to take recourse to all such actions that are open to him, both civil and criminal, at your risk and expense," it said.

(With PTI inputs.)

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