MUMBAI, April 29: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Irrigation Minister Eknath Khadse today filed a Rs 1 crore defamation suit in the Bombay High Court against veteran Janata Dal leader and former legislator Gulabrao Patil for authoring and publishing a book against him. ``Since the book, Gulabrao Cha Danka Ani Khadse Cha Bhanka, was published with the intention to malign me among my party and close relatives, I decided to file the defamation suit against him,'' Khadse told The Indian Express.Seeking Rs 1 crore in damages, Khadse urged the court to restrain Patil and his agents by a perpetual order from publishing or circulating any defamatory allegations against him.He also sought a direction restraining Patil and his agents from repeating the allegations mentioned in the book and reprinting or circulating them in any further issue of any booklet or through any media. Khadse pointed out that the book was published at the peak of campaigning for the mid-term Lok Sabha pollswith a view to harming the BJP's prospects in Jalgaon district. ``Since I was the party's main campaigner in Jalgaon district, the book was published to cause embarrassment on the eve of the mid-term polls,'' he charged.
