The Aam Aadmi Party in Goa on Wednesday alleged that the defamation suit filed against party leader Sanjay Singh by Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's wife was a ploy to keep him away from the Delhi assembly election campaign.
Delhi assembly elections are likely to be held by the end of January or early February next year. The election is likely to be a triangular fight among the ruling AAP, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress.
Goa CM's wife Sulakshana Sawant filed a defamation suit against Sanjay Singh on Tuesday in a court at Bicholim village in North Goa. She has sought Rs 100 crore in damages from the AAP politician for allegedly naming her in the cash-for-jobs scam.
The court issued a notice to Singh in this connection, seeking his reply by January 10, 2025.
Singh, a Rajya Sabha member, had recently addressed a press conference in Delhi where he allegedly made allegations against Sulakshana Sawant.
Speaking at a press conference on the issue here, AAP's Goa unit general secretary Walmiki Naik said that since Singh is one of the star campaigners of the party in the Delhi elections, he is being targeted so that his time is wasted in appearing for the defamation case.
"Delhi assembly elections are scheduled to be held by the end of January or beginning of February next year, for which campaigning is going on. Singh is one of the top three campaigners of the party and they (BJP) want to waste his time by framing him in such cases," he alleged.
Naik said that while Singh held the press conference in New Delhi, the case against him was filed in Bicholim in Goa so that he has to travel for court hearings here.
"We don't know how long this case will go on, but the complainant will have to present evidence before the court about what Singh said and how it amounts to her defamation," he said.
Naik added that filing of this defamation case is also an attempt to divert the attention from the escape of land grab case accused Siddiqui Suleman Khan from the crime branch's custody.
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