UP Cong chief should apologise or face criminal defamation suit: Energy minister

Uttar Pradesh energy minister Shrikant Sharma on Monday threatened UP Congress Committee (UPCC) president Ajay Kumar Lallu with a criminal defamation suit for targeting

Uttar Pradesh energy minister Shrikant Sharma on Monday threatened UP Congress Committee (UPCC) president Ajay Kumar Lallu with a criminal defamation suit for targeting him over the investment of Rs 2,600 crore of the state employees’ provident fund in the unsecured Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFCL).

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“The allegations against me by Congress leader Ajay Kumar Lallu are concocted and false. He must tender an apology for the baseless charges or else be ready to face a criminal defamation case,” Sharma warned.

Lallu had on Sunday questioned the role of the energy minister in the investment of the state power employees’ provident PF in the unsecured private company with questionable credentials.

“Lallu concocted charges only to stay in the news,” the minister said, adding, “He also is behaving like Rahul Gandhi who had levelled many baseless allegations against our leaders for which he is facing litigation in various courts.”

These charges, he said might have got him publicity for a short time but his behaviour was against decency in public life.

Sharma reiterated that the script for investments in the DHFCL had been written during the Samajwadi Party government under Akhilesh Yadav who, he pointed out, was a dear friend of the Gandhi family.