Kolkata, December 2: Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya on Sunday refused to apologise for his comments on West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee. The Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) president has sent a legal notice to Vijayvargiya for defamation.

Reacting on the legal notice, Vijayvargiya said, “I am not going to be intimidated by thieves, everyone knows what he does in Bengal. Every illegal activity is linked with him. I will not apologise, these people will go to jail soon.” Country Will Be Better Off Without BJP, Says West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee at Public Rally

Abhishek had sent the legal notice to the BJP general secretary after he made accused Abhishek of running a parallel government in the state. Vijayvargiya made these comments on Friday during his visit to Nadia district where 12 people died in Shantipur after consuming spurious liquor. Seeking an unconditional public apology from Vijayvargiya, Abhishek also demanded that the BJP leader would desist from making any remarks about him in the future.

During his visit to Nadia, VIjayvargiya had said, as The New Indian Express quotes, “Pradesh me do Sarkar chal rahi hai, ek Mamataji ki Sarkar aur ek abhishekji ki Sarkar (two governments are running in the state, Mamatji’s government and Abhishekji’s government). Mamata ji’s government deals in sales of country liquor while Abhishek ji’s government deals in the sale of hooch. The funds from the sale of the country liquor go to the state exchequer while the entire money from the sale of hooch goes to the home of Abhishek Banerjee. So Abhishek ji…is directly responsible for the deaths of these people, because whatever illegal activities are going on in the state of West Bengal are being given protection by him…”

Abhishek had called these remarks as “false, politically motivated and deliberately made” to “impinge” upon his reputation in the legal notice sent to Vijayvargiya.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 02, 2018 09:59 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).