Dislodged from govt bungalow, Bittu spends night at party office

Dislodged from govt bungalow, Bittu spends night at party office

Ludhiana: Ludhiana MP Ravneet Singh Bittu was on Friday night dislodged from the government house here, where he was living since 2016. Rendered homeless, the three-time parliamentarian and BJP nominee spent last night on a mattress at the party office here under the Z-plus security cover.

This came almost 24 hours after a demand notice to pay Rs 1.83 crore as house rent and order to immediately vacate the house was served on him on Thursday. Bittu had paid Rs 1.83 crore to the MC, which had served him the notice, to procure the mandatory no-dues certificate (NDC) before filing his nomination papers on Friday.

Calling it nefarious design of the ruling AAP and the Congress to prevent him from entering the poll fray and pose a security threat to him and his family, the parliamentarian, who had recently quit the Congress to get the BJP ticket from the Ludhiana Lok Sabha seat, has equated the action to the one meted out to singer Sidhu Moosewala, who was killed following his security cut in May 2022.

“The AAP and the Congress will be responsible for any harm caused to me or my family,” he said, while asserting that he would not be cowed down by any such tactics.

Accusing his opponents of playing with his life and liberty, Bittu said, “All this shows their frustration as they have accepted their defeat.” Exuding confidence, the BJP candidate said the people would teach them a lesson and he would emerge stronger out of what he termed political vendetta.

Following the dislocation, Bittu today took permission to shift his belongings from the house, which was allotted to him by the then SAD government in view of a threat perception in 2016.

Bittu said he was served a rent recovery notice and house vacation order on Thursday at 11.18 pm through WhatsApp and official email. He said he had been duly getting NDC from the MC during the past elections as well and had been paying water and electricity bills regularly, but no notice declaring his possession as “illegal” had been served on him in the past.

“I had applied for the NDC on May 2, but it was not issued till May 8 despite the EC instructions to issue such documents within 48 hours of applying,” he claimed. He said he had to pledge his ancestral agricultural land to clear the dues and obtain the NDC, hours before filing the nomination on Friday.

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