Rajinder Rana serves legal notice on Himachal CM Sukhvinder Sukhu for defamation

Tribune News Service

Shimla, April 7

Rajinder Rana, former Congress MLA from Sujanpur, today served a legal notice on Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for civil and criminal defamation. Through this notice, Rana has sought an immediate and unconditional apology within two working days from the date of receipt of this notice. He has further demanded the withdrawal all allegations and aspersions made by the Chief Minister, and to refrain from using foul and filthy language unbecoming of civil public discourse in future.

The notice warns that in case of a failure to comply with the demands within a period of two days from the receipt of this legal notice, the Chief Minister shall render him liable to face appropriate civil as well as criminal proceedings under the relevant provisions of law.

Referring to the Rajya Sabha elections, in which he and five other Congress MLAs voted for the BJP candidate, Rana said he and five other Congress MLAs voted as per their conscience in favour of the candidate who hails from Himachal Pradesh. As per the notice, the Chief Minister, instead of taking the defeat in the right spirit, made it a prestige issue and started blaming the MLAs for it. “He started levelling serious allegations against my integrity and character which are malicious, baseless, false, fabricated, concocted, defamatory, mala fide and motivated,” he said.

Rana further alleged that over the last couple of weeks, in his public speeches and posts on Facebook page, print-media, social media, electronic media and elsewhere, the Chief Minister had specifically been mentioning and painting him as a corrupt politician, who has been purchased by the BJP through unfair practices.

“In an election rally-cum-public speech in Una, you said that dissident MLAs have been sold for a sum of Rs 15 crores each and you possess proof. The aforesaid speech has been widely reported in many newspapers and social media. The defamatory and slanderous allegations, devoid of truth, have caused my client much agony and damage,” the notice read.

Allegations malicious, baseless

• The former Sujanpur MLA said he and five other Congress MLAs voted as per their conscience in favour of the candidate who hails from Himachal Pradesh
• The CM, instead of taking the defeat in the right spirit, made it a prestige issue and started blaming the MLAs for it
• He started levelling serious allegations against my integrity and character which are malicious, baseless, false, fabricated, concocted, defamatory, mala fide and motivated, he said

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