Sri Muktsar Sahib, Jan 11 (UNI) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal on Thursday filed a defamation suit seeking Rs 1 crore damages from Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for defaming him and his party.
The willful defamation was part of an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) “conspiracy” against the Badal family as well as the SAD, he said.
The SAD President filed a civil suit in the court of the Civil Judge here and also submitted the court fee of Rs 2.29 lakh.
The suit stated that Mann indulged in a drama on November 1,2023 by asserting precious water of Punjab was taken by the plaintiff and his family to their farm land in Balasar village of Haryana by constructing a private canal. It said the CM made the “scurrilous statement” despite knowing the facts of the case and did so deliberately knowing it would have a cascading effect due to the position he held.
The suit said the facts of the case were that he as well as the SAD had fought tirelessly to save each and every drop of water even as the CM and AAP had taken an adverse stand with respect to River waters in Haryana to gain political mileage.
Badal in his suit said Mann was regularly making false, unsubstantiated and scurrilous statements against him. He said the CM had portrayed him as well as the Badal family as “highly corrupt” people who had “looted” Punjab, besides calling them “anti-Sikh and anti-Punjab”.
“All this has been done as part of a pre-planned conspiracy hatched by the CM in league with his political bosses,” the suit said.
The suit, filed by advocate Manjinder Singh Brar, also noted that sufficient time had been given to the CM to apologise for his conduct by issuing a legal notice on November 17, 2023. It also stated that the damages of Rs 1 crore when awarded would be distributed in the service of the Panth among families of those who laid down their lives for the country.
Later talking to newsmen, Badal said Mann had made a habit of “lying” and even practised “politics of lies”.
“Now he will be held to account and will have to appear in court and explain his lies. We will not let him misuse his position as CM to indulge in slander,” he added.
