Hyderabad, Jul 13 (IANS): Congress Telangana in charge Manickam Tagore on Tuesday sent a legal notice to former party leader Padi Kaushik Reddy who alleged that Revanth Reddy paid him a Rs 50 crore bribe to get the post of state unit chief.

A day after Kaushik Reddy made the allegation while announcing his resignation from the party, Tagore, through his lawyer, sent criminal defamation notice, claiming damages of Rs 1 crore.

The MP from Tamil Nadu has sought an unconditional apology in writing for making defamatory statement within seven days, "failing which appropriate legal action will be taken against you for the offence of defamation before the appropriate forum and for which you will be held responsible for the consequences".

The notice says that Kaushik Reddy committed an offence punishable under the provisions of Sections 499 and 500 of the Indian Penal Code by issuing a defamatory statement.

"My client hereby reserved his right to take civil action for approximately estimated damages of Rs 1 crore, for the defamative and malicious press statement made by you against my client on 12-07-2021," reads the notice.

State Secretary Kaushik Reddy resigned from the party on Monday after an audio surfaced in which he claimed that he will be contesting ensuing by-election to Huzurabad Assembly constituency on the ticket of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

As the video went viral, the state unit issued him a show cause notice but he called a press conference to not only announce his resignation but launched a bitter attack on Tagore, Revanth Reddy and other party leaders.

Kaushik Reddy alleged that Revanth Reddy paid Rs 50 crore to Tagore to get the post as several senior leaders were ignored for the position.

The party later announced that it has expelled Kaushik Reddy.