Shashi Tharoor sends legal notice to Ravi Shankar Prasad for 'false and defamatory statements'

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has sent Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad a legal notice for making “false and defamatory statements” against him, ANI reported. According to the report, Tharoor sent the notice over a statement Prasad made during a press conference which he later put on Twitter:

Shashi Tharoor who is accused in a murder case has attempted to disrespect Lord Shiva.

I seek a reply from Rahul Gandhi who claims himself to be a Bhakt of Lord Shiva on this horrific denunciation of Hindu gods by a Congress MP.

Rahul Gandhi must apologize to all Hindus. pic.twitter.com/QeShJoCHDZ

— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) October 28, 2018

Tharoor sought an apology from Prasad within 48 hours and warned of legal action if he does not do so, according to the report. Prasad was responding to Tharoor launching a fresh attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.  Quoting a profile on Modi in The Caravan from 2012, which in turn quoted an unnamed leader in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Tharoor compared him to a “scorpion sitting on a Shivling”. While speaking at the Bengaluru Literature Festival on Saturday, Tharoor said the prime minister’s “personality cult” has not been popular with the RSS and has been a cause of frustration within the group. Tharoor said: “There is an extraordinarily striking metaphor expressed by an unnamed RSS source to journalist Vinod Jose of The Caravan, in which they express their frustration with their inability to curb Modi. The man says: ‘Modi is like a scorpion sitting on a Shivling; you can’t remove him with your hand, and you cannot hit it with a chappal either.’”