Hyderabad: A court on Tuesday issued summons to Andhra Jyothi MD Vemuri Radha Krishna and seven others in relation to a defamation case filed by YSRCP's Mangalagiri MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy.

The MLA had stated in his petition that Andhra Jyothi published false and baseless stories about YSRCP president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy during the latter's meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a story titled, "Amma Jaganaa" and published on May 15, the news paper said that YS Jagan met the Prime Minister regarding criminal cases pending against the YSRCP chief. MLA Alla Ramakrishna Reddy stated that the meeting focused on issues concerning the people of Andhra Pradesh such as drought, problems of AgriGold depositors, plight of chilli farmers, special status for AP and turncoat MLAs. "Creating fake stories and making false allegations that the meeting was for personal reasons is totally false," Ramakrishna Reddy said.

YSRCP president YS Jagan also submitted a memorandum highlighting these issues to the Prime Minister. However, Andhra Jyothi stated in its story that the Prime Minister was addressed as "Your Excellency". Refuting the allegations YSRCP held a pressmeet at that time and displayed a copy of the memorandum which showed that the PM was addressed as "Respected" in accordance with protocol. Following the YSRCP pressmeet, Andhra Jyothi published another article which again tried to twists facts about the memorandum submitted by YS Jagan.

The Mangalagiri MLA had filed a defamation case against Andhra Jyothi MD, editor, Telangana and AP bureau incharge and a reporter for publishing the false reports. Following a hearing in the case on Tuesday, the 17th Additional Metropolitan Magistrate issued the summons on Tuesday.