Why did Nitin Gadkari send legal notice to Congress leaders?

New Delhi: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has issued a legal notice to All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary Jairam Ramesh for posting a clip of his interview without context, alleging that it affected his reputation and that of the BJP.

The legal notices claimed that Gadkari's interview in the video clip was “twisted and distorted”.

The issue stems from a 19-second video clip of an interview taken by India Today Group's Lallantop with Gadkari, which the Congress leaders are accused of sharing out of context to damage Gadkari's reputation.

In the video, Gadkari can be seen talking about the poor, farmers and villagers. The Union Minister said in this interview that villagers, poor, labourers and farmers are unhappy.

“Villages, poor, labourers and farmers are unhappy...The villages do not have good roads, there is no water to drink, there are no good hospitals, there are no good schools,” the Union Minister noted.

The video shared by Congress, however cut the part before this where Gadkari talks about the issue of rural-urban migration. It also cuts the part after this where he spoke of the efforts undertaken by the NDA government to improve the lives of villagers, poor, labourers and farmers.

Watch the video here: 

Here’s what Congress said:

“I have read the legal notice sent by him…We will respond to it. We have made no mistake. We used their own words, I can’t understand why they are upset,” Ramesh said while speaking to media.