TNR Desk
Keeping up the pressure on the six disqualified rebel Congress MLAs, the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Himachal Pradesh government has slapped a notice on Inder Dutt Lakhanpal for allegedly violating construction regulations in Shimla.
The show-cause notice was issued by the Shimla Municipal Corporation on March 19 (2024) and Lakhanpal has been told to respond to it by March 23. The property, as mentioned in the notice, is located near Goyal Motors at Taradevi in Shimla.
The notice has been issued under Section 253 of the Himachal Pradesh Municipal Corporation Rules, 1994. A related notice was earlier issued to Lakhanpal on May 15, 2015, and a hearing related to the earlier notice has been fixed at 10 am on March 23, 2024. Lakhanpal has been told to appear in-person before the Shimla Municipal Corporation Commissioner, else one-sided proceedings would be initiated against him.
Lakhanpal responded to the notice by asking the Sukhu government to have a big heart. He said governments were run by affection, not hatred. He acknowledged receiving the show-cause notice for the alleged illegal construction at his residence.
Lakhanpal was the Congress MLA from Barsar in Hamirpur district and he along with five other rebel legislators — Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti), Chaitanya Sharma (Gagret) and Davinder Bhutto (Kutlehar) — cross-voted in favour of Harsh Mahajan, the BJP’s Rajya Sabha nominee from Himachal Pradesh in the recent election. Their cross-voting led the defeat of Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, causing much embarrassment to the Sukhu government.
After their disqualification from the Assembly, the Election Commission has announced bypoll in the six Assembly constituencies on June 1. All the six rebels have been waiting to join the BJP and are also demanding the announcement of their candidature from their constituencies at the time when they join the saffron party.
