SRINAGAR: A BJP functionary in Kashmir has served a defamation notice on AAP MP Sanjay Singh for calling him and 11 other party colleagues in J&K “ex-terrorists trained in Pakistan”.Mohd Ashraf Azad’s lawyer has demanded Sanjay Singh to make a public apology, retract the defamatory statements, and pay Rs 50 crore in damages for making “false and malicious accusations” during a press conference on Sept 12, causing him “mental trauma and emotional distress” besides “irreparable harm” to his reputation.BJP said that Azad has been an active senior functionary for the past three decades and has consistently worked against terrorism and corruption, establishing himself as a “peace-loving, nationalist.”Altaf Thakur, a BJP spokesman in J&K, dismissed AAP allegations, asserting that all 12 persons named by AAP had previously worked as counterinsurgents.Meanwhile, BJP has launched an exercise to re-verify the backgrounds of its workers and leaders having militant past, a senior party functionary told TOI.
