Gangtok, July 25: Congress leader and former forest minister of Sikkim T. Lachungpa has demanded an apology from the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) for defaming him in a pamphlet released last week.
Lachungpa has given SDF president and Sikkim chief minister Pawan Chamling 15 days to apologise, failing which he will move court.
The pamphlet in question is called Dharavaik bok hartal Sikkimeli Jansamudailai SDF party ko appeal (Appeal of the SDF party on the hunger strike launched by ACT). The hunger strike by the Affected Citizens of Teesta (ACT) has been on for over a month to protest against hydel power projects in North Sikkim.
The pamphlet alluded to Lachungpa by saying that supporters of the agitation include a former forest minister against whom the Supreme Court had begun a suo motu case for his involvement in large-scale tree felling in the North district. Lachungpa, who was the forest minister in the Nar Bhadaur Bhandari government in the 1980s, said no such case exists.
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