The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday warned of legal action against Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over her social media post, in which she accused the saffron party-led government in the state of indulging in corruption.
Later in the day, the Gwalior police registered a first information report (FIR) against a few people in connection with Priyanka Gandhi's post.
Terming her allegation false, MP Home Minister Narottam Mishra sought proof from the Congress leader to support her charge, warning that options were otherwise open before the state government and the BJP for legal action.
While Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the opposition party was spreading lies on social media, state Congress chief Kamal Nath claimed there are 'thousands' of corruption cases.
State BJP chief V D Sharma also warned of legal action against Priyanka Gandhi, accusing her of citing a fake letter in a social media post to level the allegation.
The state Congress, however, said it would prove that the BJP-led government is corrupt and also accused the ruling party of creating 'political terror'.
On Friday, Priyanka Gandhi claimed on X, formerly known as Twitter, that a union of contractors from Madhya Pradesh has written a letter to the Chief Justice of the High Court, complaining that they receive payment only after paying 50 per cent commission.
'The corrupt BJP government in Karnataka used to collect 40% commission. In Madhya Pradesh, BJP has gone ahead by breaking its own record of corruption. People of Karnataka ousted the 40% commission government, now the people of Madhya Pradesh will remove the 50% commission government from power,' she alleged in the post.
Responding to her allegation, Mishra said that in Madhya Pradesh, the Congress was playing politics 'with a disgusting mentality' without any issue.
'State Congress leaders first got Rahul Gandhi to lie and now got Priyanka Gandhi to make a false tweet. Priyanka ji, give proof of your tweets, otherwise, we have all options open for (legal) action,' the minister warned.
He said that Priyanka Gandhi should reveal the name of the person or contractor who wrote the letter to the high court chief justice that she mentioned in her social media post.
Talking to reporters, state BJP chief Sharma accused the Congress of being power-hungry and desperate to be at the helm by peddling lies.
'This is a conspiracy and BJP will take legal action for this tweet under cybercrime...She will have to tell from where did she get this letter. You (Priyanka Gandhi) misled not only Madhya Pradesh but the country on the basis of a fake letter,' he said.
'The Congress leadership will have to give an answer on this. We will take legal action in this regard,' he added.
K K Mishra, MP Congress media department's chairman, said his party would prove that the BJP government is corrupt.
'The BJP should accept the reality, but the ruling party has been creating political terror...It is adopting unconstitutional means. We will prove that the government is corrupt,' he said.
MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan accused the Congress of spreading lies on social media.
After getting the letter through social media on Saturday, Chouhan said he asked the intelligence to find out the person and organisation -- Laghu Evam Madhyam Shreni Samvidakar Sangh of Gwalior -- that wrote the letter to the high court chief justice.
"There is no existence of the man and the organisation mentioned in this letter posted by Congress leaders on social media. This is the Congress strategy to mislead the people through social media.. in such a way, at least people start talking," Chouhan said terming the letter fake.
In his response, MP Congress chief Kamal Nath told reporters, "There are thousands of corruption cases. How many cases will they file? When corruption cases are being exposed, they (BJP) are left with no other option."
A delegation of BJP leaders reached the police crime branch office here and demanded legal action against Congress leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who shared the 'fake' letter on social media to tarnish the image of the ruling party, said state BJP media cell in-charge Ashish Agrawal.
Meanwhile, a case was registered in Gwalior in connection with this letter, Superintendent of Police (SP) Rajesh Singh Chandel said.
On a complaint by Pankaj Paliwal, district working committee member of BJP, the Crime Branch of the Gwalior police registered a case against one Gyanendra Awasthi and others in connection with the letter accusing the ruling party of indulging in corruption, he said.
The FIR was registered against Awasthi and others, whose whereabouts are not known, under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 420 (cheating) and 469 (forgery for the purpose of harming reputation).
As per the FIR, the complainant said that the viral letter mentioned Awasthi's name and his organisation 'Laghu Evam Madhyam Shreni Samvidakar Sangh', which according to the letter, has its office at Basant Vihar area of Gwalior.
On being searched, no such person or organisation was found in that locality.
So, the letter is forged, the complainant said.
Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh are due in November this year.
