Union minister Smriti Irani, on Sunday, sent legal notices to Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh, Netta D' Souza and Pawan Khera over the claim that an "illegal bar" was being run in Goa by the minister's daughter.
In her notice, the minister asked the Congress leaders to tender a written unconditional apology and withdraw the allegations they made against her 18-year-old daughter.
The Congress had demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should sack Irani from the Union cabinet.
Khera had said there are serious charges of corruption against Irani's family and her daughter is allegedly running a restaurant in Goa, in which a bar is also functioning on a "fake licence". "We demand from the prime minister that Irani should be immediately sacked as a minister from the Union cabinet. You owe it to this country, to the youth of this country," he said.
"The licence by Smriti Irani's daughter is in the name of a person who died in May 2021, and the licence was taken in June 2022 in Goa. But the person in whose name the licence is, had died 13 months ago. This is illegal," Khera said.
Ramesh had said the Congress would raise the issue in Parliament.
"This kind of illegality is not possible without the influence from a senior minister in the Union cabinet. This person (Irani) had demanded on December 12, 2004 the resignation of then Gujarat CM. Today we demand from the prime minister that he should take the resignation of Smriti Irani," he claimed.
On Saturday, reacting to the allegations, Irani had said her daughter, a college student, was was targeted because of her mother's vocal stand on the Sonia and Rahul Gandhi's "Rs 5,000-crore loot" in the National Herald case. "My daughter's fault is that her mother holds a press conference on the loot of Rs 5,000 cr by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. Her fault is that her mother fought against Rahul Gandhi in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls," she said.
—With PTI inputs
