Articles
Defamation Charges
Dt: 14/7/21
Defamation Charges
Dr T H Chowdary*
Sri Manickam Tagore Congress High Command’s person in charge of Telangana Congress gave legal notice to Sri Padi Kaushik Reddy, till recently Congress- man who has alleged that Sri Tagore was paid Rs.50 cr by Sri Revant Reddy to get the Presidentship of Telangana Congress. He claimed Rs. 1 cr from Kaushik Reddy as damages . This reminds me of a similar incident in the Videsh Sanchar Nigam (VSNL).
2. Sri B K Syngal who succeeded me as Chairman and Managing Director VSNL was to retire in 1998. He wanted an extension. He was reported to have approached a friend of Sri L K Advani, the then Home Minister in the GOI to get him an extension on promise of paying him some huge amount. Similarly he was reported to have approached the husband of Smt Sushma Swaraj who was the Minister in Vajpayee’s Cabinet, promising some huge amount if he could manage his extension.
3. His work in the VSNL was unsatisfactory as he was offending many foreign companies out of arrogance. Staff too were not quite happy. Apart from this, I was opposed all along my life to civil servants seeking extension of 1 or 2 years after having put in more than 30 hears of service. If they could not do in 30 years what was excellent why and how do they think that they can accomplish some great things during the extension period in their old age. That was the basis of my conviction that no government servant should seek and get extension.
4. I spoke to Sushma Swaraj about Sri B.K. Syngal ‘s immoral ways to get his extension. She made inquiries . She came to the conclusion not to give extension. Sri Syngal came to know that his extension was in jeopardy because of my intervention. He told pressmen that I was coming in the way of his extension . He would crush me under the feet of an element and so on. He was not going to get the extension and therefore he gave me legal notice demanding that I pay him Rs. 1 cr for causing damage to his reputation.
5. I consulted Sri Parvatha Rao, retired justice of the High Court of AP . He gave me a wonderful suggestion. He said that, I should write to Mr Syngal to lend me Rs.1 cr so that I can pay him. That was the reply I gave to the lawyers notice that Syngal served upon me. That silenced him. If he gave Rs.1 cr I would ask how he made one crore while being a civil servant.
6. The duel between Kausik Reddy and Manickam Tagore and Revanth Reddy reminded me of this incident in my career.
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