Bihar minister and senior JD(U) leader Ashok Choudhary on Tuesday filed a defamation suit against Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor for alleging that he had bribed Union minister Chirag Paswan to secure a Lok Sabha ticket for his daughter.
Choudhary, whose daughter Shambhavi is Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) MP from the reserved constituency of Samastipur, spoke to journalists at the civil court.
"After Prashant Kishor made objectionable remarks against my daughter and me, I sent him a legal notice, to which his reply was unsatisfactory. He clearly has no regret for what he had said," the JD(U) national general secretary said.
"I have therefore taken recourse to legal remedy. I challenge Prashant Kishor to prove that I had paid money to Chirag Paswan or withdraw his allegations with an apology. I am determined to take this fight to the Supreme Court, if the need arises," he added.
Choudhary described Kishor, a former poll strategist who had been briefly associated with the JD(U), as "a political trader, who has offered his services to parties of all hues for a fee".
"In contrast, we are purely in politics. I am myself a second-generation politician. My daughter is the youngest MP. Prashant Kishor is unable to digest this feat of a Dalit girl," alleged Choudhary, a key aide of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Choudhary's late father Mahavir Choudhary had been a minister when the state was ruled by the Congress.
Kishor, who has been digging in his heels since Choudhary threatened him with legal action, was not immediately available for comments on the latest development.
