Jaipur:

A political strategy firm that is playing a role in the Congress campaign in Rajasthan has filed a Rs 100-crore defamation case against a newspaper which reported that the results of a survey conducted for the party were sold to the BJP by one of its employees for Rs 20 lakh.

Assembly polls are scheduled to be held in Rajasthan on November 25 and the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government is hoping to buck the trend of the state voting out incumbents after one term. One of the key planks of its re-election strategy is the slew of welfare schemes that it has rolled out. 

Political strategy firm DesignBoxed, which has sued the newspaper, worked closely with state Congress president DK Shivakumar during the Karnataka Assembly election in May, which was won convincingly by the party.

In Rajasthan, the company has worked on the political messaging behind the Congress social welfare schemes. It has also carried out surveys and seat assessments and given feedback on political issues on the ground.

Allegations

Earlier this month, there was speculation that the firm had some kind of fallout with Rajasthan Congress President Govind Singh Dotasra, and it was claimed that he didn’t agree with some aspects of how the firm was helping in the campaign in Rajasthan.

DesignBoxed Director Naresh Arora said the allegations were “imaginary stories” and that vested interests were trying to hurt the Congress’ campaign in the state. 

“Sections of the media are cooking up imaginary stories of a meeting between me and the honourable RPCC chief Shri Govind Singh Dotasara (sic). I have the utmost respect for him and for Shri Rahul Gandhi.  Vested interests trying to sabotage the Congress campaign before elections will not succeed – a Congress victory in Rajasthan is a foregone conclusion,” Mr Arora posted on X, formerly Twitter. 

This was followed by allegations that a DesignBoxed employee had sold the results of a survey conducted for the Congress to the BJP. 

Mr Arora had taken to social media again to term the allegations “fake news”, and asked media houses in Jaipur to take such news with a “big bucket of salt”.

Strong Stand

In its defamation case against the newspaper, the firm has alleged that the report was published without seeking its version and has sought an unconditional apology. It has also warned that it will take similar action against any other “fake news” report published about it.