BJP national secy serves legal notice on Abhishek, Kalyan Banerjee

KOLKATA: BJP national secretary Siddharth Nath Singh has served legal notices on Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek and another Trinamool Congress MP, Kalyan Banerjee for making defamatory statements and sought unconditional apologies from both the MPs.

Both the MPs had made disparaging remarks about late prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Singh's grandfather. “Your comments have been made purposefully with an intention to cause an imputation to Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Your actions have caused hurt and distress to the entire Shastri family of which Singh is a member,“ said Abha R Sharma, Singh's lawyer who sent the letters to the two MPs very recently.

“You are called upon to render an unconditional apology and pay our client (Singh) a sum of . ` 10 crore each within two weeks from the date of issuance of this notice and have it published in all leading newspapers,” the lawyer said in the notice served on the two MPs.

Singh has threatened to initiate civil and criminal proceedings against the Trinamool MPs if they failed to tender an apology and pay the money. Though Kalyan Banerjee had apologised for the comments he made in December during a party rally in his Serampore Lok Sabha constituency, Singh in the notice called the apology a “mockery” as it was made with “no intention to apologise”.