On ₹500 cr scam charge, Rupani threatens to sue Congress leaders, seeks apology

AHMEDABAD: Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani on Monday said he has sent legal notices to Congress leaders including leader of opposition Sukhram Rathwa for accusing him of involvement in what the Congress has called a ₹500 crore land scam.

Rupani told reporters that his lawyers have sent a legal notice to the Rathwa and Congress MLAs CJ Chavda and Shailesh Parmar, and demanded that they apologise within 15 days for levelling baseless allegations. If they do not, Rupani said he will sue them for defamation.

Last week, Rathwa and other Congress leaders accused Rupani of helping a private real estate development company when he was Gujarat chief minister by approving the conversion of land parcels under Rajkot Urban Development Authority from residential to commercial.

Rupani, who was in the US when the allegations were levelled by the Congress, rebutted the charges, claiming that the accusations were designed to tarnish his reputation and were a political ploy to distract the public attention from a spate of exits from the Congress to the Bharatiya Janata Party

“There is no corruption at all, not even of ₹5. I am willing to face any inquiry in the matter. When the value of the said land parcels is about ₹75 crore, it is hilarious to claim a ₹500 crore figure,” Rupani said in the previous statement.

Rupani said the approval for conversion of land was granted after following all the stipulated.