Now, Kumar Vishwas tenders apology to Arun Jaitley, seeks withdrawal of defamation suit

Following what Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal did over a month back, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Kumar Vishwas has now written to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley seeking an apology from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongman.

Tendering his apology to Jaitley, the AAP leader has sought withdrawal of a civil defamation case filed by the Union Finance Minister against him.

Reacting to the letter sent by Kumar Vishwas, the lawyer of Arun Jaitley said, “We have accepted it.”

The Delhi High Court had in April disposed off a defamation suit filed by Jaitley against Arvind Kejriwal, after the latter apologised to the BJP leader for his remarks. The defamation suit was was quashed as Jaitley accepted Kejriwal’s apology.

Kejriwal had tendered an apology to Jaitley in a letter. He had said: "I unequivocally withdraw all the allegations made by me in question whether in print, electronic or social media against you. I offer my sincere apology to you and your family members for any harm caused to your reputation as a consequence of my allegations."

Thereafter, the two leaders had moved an application before the Delhi High Court seeking withdrawal of the defamation case. Along with Kejriwal, four other AAP leaders - Sanjay Singh, Ashutosh, Deepak Bajpai and Raghav Chadha - had also apologised to Jaitley for their allegations.

In his letter, Kejriwal had stated that the allegations made by him were based on information and papers furnished by certain individuals who represented to have first-hand insight into the DDCA's affairs but had "recently discovered that the information and the imputations contained therein are unfounded and unwarranted and I was clearly misinformed into making these allegations". Kejriwal also said that he did not approve of senior advocate Ram Jethmalani`s "disparaging and malicious" remarks against Jaitley.

Levelling defamation charges against the Delhi CM, Jaitley had asked for Rs 10 crore as damages before a magisterial court in December 2015. He had claimed that the charges affected his reputation.