AGP slaps Rs500-cr defamation notice on Rahul Gandhi

Congress party vice president and scion Rahul Gandhi was on Wednesday slapped with a Rs500-crore defamation notice by Asom Gana Parishad's youth wing, giving him 15 days to offer an apology for his purported remarks that the party won its second term in Assam with the support of insurgents.

The AGP youth wing president Kishore Upadhaya said, "If the Congress vice president fails to apologise, we will seek a compensation of Rs500 crore for damaging the reputation of the party, whose members were involved in the six year Assam agitation against foreigners.

"We have given Gandhi 15 days to respond to our notice failing which we will initiate a criminal defamation case against him," he said.

AGP president Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had also earlier stated that the party strongly condemned Gandhi's comments and was consulting experts for taking legal action against him.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had endorsed Gandhi's statement, saying that the AGP had links with insurgent groups and Rahul Gandhi's statement was correct that the party came to power in the state with the help of the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA).