BJP's Rajinder Rana serves defamation notice to Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhu

Shimla: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Congress legislator Rajinder Rana served a defamation notice to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu for alleging horse trading. Two Congress rebels and former Congress legislators, Sudhir Sharma and Devender Bhutto, have already filed the same legal notice to CM Sukhu.
CM Sukhu's advocate, Anshul Attri, in the defamation notice stated that Rajinder Rana has been in political life for a long time and has worked for the social uplift and well-being of the general public at large and the people of Himachal Pradesh in particular. He is widely acclaimed and respected as a social and political personality, is held in high esteem in all walks of life throughout the country and has a mass following amongst various sections of society. He called the horse trading allegations by CM Sukhu, "malicious, baseless, false, fabricated, concocted, defamatory, malafide and motivated."
The defamation notice stated that Rajinder Rana and other members of the Congress Party have exercised their democratic rights in Rajya Sabha elections, but instead of taking the defeat in a spirited way, CM Sukhu has taken the said defeat, made it a prestige issue and started blaming Rana and other MLA's on one pretext or another by levelling serious allegations regarding his integrity and character. "It is a deliberate and malafide act to make the false and defamatory statement, guided by the motive of publically and maliciously maligning my client's reputation and causing undue embarrassment and humiliation to him," the notice added.
The defamation notice further stated that the imputations and statements made by the CM have adversely affected Rana's established public image, which has been built over a period of years with sincere and dedicated efforts.