MP CM Shiv Raj Singh Chouha warns Rahul Gandi of filing a criminal defamation suit 

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has threatened to sue Congress president Rahul Gandhi for his comments about his son at a rally yesterday. Rahul Gandhi acknowledged a mix-up this morning, but used his clarification to shoot another barb at the BJP. Madhya Pradesh votes next month for a new assembly and the Congress president is campaigning in the state on a two-day visit.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan had called out Rahul Gandhi for alleging at a rally that his son’s name had figured in the Panama papers.
Chouhan hit back in a midnight tweet.

“Mr @RahulGandhi You have been making patently false allegations of Vyapam to Panama Papers against me and my family. Tomorrow, I am filing a criminal defamation suit for maximum damages against you for frivolous and malafide statements,” Chouhan said, responding hours later.
Gandhi had attacked the BJP for corruption during his campaign in the state where the BJP has been in power for 15 straight years, singling out Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s son.

“His (Chouhan’s) son’s name figures in the Panama papers. Pakistan’s ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s name is found in Panama papers. In the country like Pakistan, he (Sharif) is put behind bars. But here the chief minister’s son’s name is found in Panama papers but no action is taken in this regard),” Gandhi said at a rally in tribal-dominated Jhabua.

Rahul Gandhi responded to the tweet with an explanation why he got mixed up.
“There is so much corruption in the BJP that I got confused. Madhya Pradesh chief minister wasn’t involved in Panama, it was the e-tendering and Vyapam scam,” Gandhi clarifies, according to news agency ANI.

Detemined to make a point, Chouhan’s son later filed a defamation case against the Congress president.
Gandhi has, for months, targeted the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government for corruption, attacking the chief minister for the Vyapam (Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board) scam and the e-tendering scam related to alleged manipulation of State Electronic Development Corporation’s nine tenders worth Rs 3,000 crore.

In neighbouring Chhattisgarh, Gandhi has repeatedly alleged that Chief Minister Raman Singh’s son held offshore accounts according to the leaked Panama papers. The BJP rejects the charge.