Nitin Bhardwaj demands Opposition leaders be booked for criminal defamation
Bhardwaj, a close ally of Rupani, cited reports published by various vernacular dailies, which, Bhardwaj said, named him and Rupani as been involved in the alleged Rs 500 crore scam.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nitin Bhardwaj on Thursday submitted an application to Rajkot city police commissioner, demanding Congress leaders be booked for criminal defamation. A day after Congress leaders alleged the erstwhile chief minister Vijay Rupani extended benefits worth Rs 500 crore to Sahara Group.
Bhardwaj, a close ally of Rupani, cited reports published by various vernacular dailies, which, Bhardwaj said, named him and Rupani as been involved in the alleged Rs 500 crore scam.
Bhardwaj said the allegations levelled by Congress leaders were baseless. and had tarnished his reputation as a politician with a clean image.
He demanded that police book Sukhram Rathva, Leader of Opposition in Assembly, Rathva’s personal assistant, Shailesh Parmar, the deputy leader of Opposition in Assembly and CJ Chavda, Congress whip in the Assembly. These leaders, Bhardwaj said, had levelled allegations against him and Rupani.
Bhardwaj is former corporator of Rajkot Municipal Corporation who is currently BJP’s in-charge for Surendranagar district.
Addressing a press conference in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, Rathva, Chavda and other Congress leaders had alleged that during Rupani’s tenure as CM, a scam of Rs 500 crore happened when Rajkot Urban Development Authority (RUDA) changed zoning of 111 acres of land purchased by Sahara India Home Corporation from residential to industrial, thereby helping the private form evade land premium payable to government.