Will present facts before court: Congress leader Ramesh on Delhi High Court summons on Irani defamation suit

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday said he will present the facts before the court and challenge the alleged "spin" given by Union Minister Smriti Irani on the matter pertaining to charges against her daughter.

The Delhi High Court on Friday issued summons to Congress leaders Ramesh, Pawan Khera and Netta D'Souza on a civil defamation suit filed by Irani seeking damages of over Rs 2 crore for allegedly making baseless allegations against her and her daughter.

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In a tweet, Ramesh said, "The Delhi High Court has issued notice asking us to formally reply to the case filed by Smriti Irani. We look forward to presenting the facts before the court. We will challenge and disprove the spin being put out by Ms. Irani".

The court also directed the three Congress leaders to remove tweets, retweets, posts, videos and photos from social media in relation to the allegations made against Irani, who is holding the portfolio of Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Minority Affairs, and her daughter.

The Congress on July 23 had demanded Irani's sacking, alleging her daughter was running an illegal bar in Goa, but the minister had claimed the "malicious" charge was made at the behest of the Gandhi family due to her vocal stand in the National Herald linked money laundering case and vowed to fight back.