More trouble for Congress in Uttarakhand - Vijay Bahuguna sends defamation notice to Rawat

Dehradun: Former Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna has sent a defamation notice to his deposed successor Harish Rawat for alleging that he was paid Rs 25 crore by the BJP to topple his government.

Sent through his lawyer Rajeshwar Singh, the notice seeks an apology from Rawat within three days failing which appropriate legal action will be initiated against him.

However, when asked at a press conference here whether he had received any defamation notice from Bahuguna, Rawat replied in the negative saying if at all he receives such a notice in future he will reply to it in the legally sanctioned way and not through the media.

"You have been constantly levelling false and baseless allegations of money deals between the BJP and my client alleging that Rs 25 crore have been paid into the accounts of my client by the BJP in your press conferences and public meetings,"?the notice said.

Terming the allegations as "highly derogatory and malicious" levelled deliberately against Bahuguna to tarnish his image, the notice demanded an unqualified apology from Rawat within three days.

"The entire country has seen Rawat indulging openly in horsetrading in the sting CD. By making such false and unfounded allegations against me he is only trying to divert attention from his own misdeeds," Bahuguna said when approached for his reaction on the defamation notice.