Will NOT say sorry to Nitin Gadkari: RTI activist

Unfazed by Nitin Gadkari's legal notice over her statement -- that he did not want her to pursue the irrigation scam in Maharashtra -- RTI activist Anjali Damania has said she will not tender a public apology to the Bharatiya Janata Party president.

"I received the defamation notice last evening around 6 pm. He (Gadkari) said if I apologise, he won't file a suit against me. But I refuse to give an apology, because whatever I said is true," the RTI activist said.

Damania, a member of India Against Corruption, said she will produce evidence of Gadkari's involvement in various scams.

"In the next four days, I will produce evidence of Gadkari's involvement in various corrupt activities," she said.

Damania had alleged that when she approached Gadkari to pursue a case against Nationalist Congress Party leaders involved in the Rs 20,000 crore irrigation scam, he advised her not to go ahead with it.

She alleged that Gadkari said he has business interests with NCP president Sharad Pawar.

Gadkari's notice to Damania, served by his counsel Shamshery & Associates, said, "My client strongly denies the false, baseless and defamatory statement that he has any business relations with Sharad Pawar."

It also demanded Damania retract her comment forthwith and tender a public apology.

The RTI activist maintained that she was not hungry for publicity, saying, "I am amazed that he (Gadkari) had time to draft the notice or probably provide inputs for the notice, but he did not have time to say whether he has met me."