How Nitin Gadkari drove a hard bargain

NEW DELHI: Union minister Nitin Gadkari drove a hard bargain and got Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to agree to his terms in framing an apology by riding on the anxiety of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief for early settlement of the defamation cases.

Kejriwal on March 16 wrote to Gadkari regretting his allegations, saying he had made certain statements “without regard to its verifiability” and requested the minister to put the incident behind and bring court proceedings to a closure.

Gadkari and Kejriwal on Monday filed a joint application in the Patiala House court to withdraw the defamation case.


Sources said Kejriwal tendered an informal apology to Gadkari last year, but talks for a formal regret began about four months back. Two close aides of the AAP chief had held several rounds of discussion with Gadkari and his associates to arrive at the decision.

“Though both the leaders had agreed to bury the past, finalising the text of the apology took some time. Once the Delhi CM was okay with admitting that his statements against the minister were unverified, the decision to file a joint application in the court was taken,” said a source.

In 2014, Kejriwal had called Gadkari “one of the country’s most corrupt politicians” and in response the BJP leader had slapped the Delhi CM with a defamation case.

Kejriwal has also shot off similar letters to Kapil Sibal and his son Amit Sibal saying that “the allegations made against you and (your) father were unfounded.” Last week, Delhi CM had also issued an apology to former Punjab minister Bikram Majithia saying that he has now learnt that the drug trade allegations were “unfounded”.

Sources also said Gadkari had suggested Kejriwal to get rid of the defamation cases by seeking apologies to focus on his responsibilities.

There are reports Kejriwal intends to get rid of all 33 defamation cases against him through out-of-court settlements and reaching out to each of the leaders who he had slammed.