Taking the ongoing war of words over the controversy surrounding Uttar Pradesh-based gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s stay in the state’s jail, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Tuesday minced no words to say that the former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had allotted prime land of Waqf Board to Ansari’s sons in Ropar.
Mann, making a startling revelation regarding Capt Amarinder’s alleged “connivance” with Ansari, said that though the two-time former Chief Minister is repeatedly claiming that he didn’t know Ansari, “it is surprising that besides ensuring a cozy stay to a gangster in jail, Captain Government felicitated him in securing prime land in Ropar”.
At the same time, Mann dared Capt Amarinder to explain how Ansari’s sons — Abaas and Umar Ansari — managed to get prime land of Waqf Board in Ropar without his connivance. “If Captain wants, I will furnish more proofs in the coming days regarding hobnobbing of Captain with Ansari,” said Mann.
Training his guns against the former Chief Minister, Mann said that before feigning ignorance over the issue of gangster Ansari, the BJP leader must enquire about him from his son Raninder Singh. “Raninder had met Ansari time and again but it is surprising that Captain is speaking lies on the issue to mislead the people. Ansari was brought from Uttar Pradesh in Punjab for VVIP treatment in Jail…When the UP Police approached the Supreme Court for getting the gangster’s custody, Punjab Government hired advocates on exorbitant rates to shield him,” he said.
Mann also added that the recovery of this Rs 55 lakh will surely be done from Capt Amarinder and former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.
On Captain’s claim that he had been CM of state for 9.5 years, Mann reminded him that the total distance which was covered by former Chief Minister in this period has been covered by him merely in 1.5 years as the Chief Minister. “Captain and I were MPs together in Lok Sabha and it is on record that Captain’s attendance was merely six per cent which was lowest in India as compared to his which was 90 per cent,” he added.
Dubbing Capt Amarinder as an “epicurean monarch” who always remained away from the people without bothering about duty bestowed to him by the people, Mann said that the BJP leader failed to perform his duty as MLA, MP, and even as the Chief Minister. “When elected as MP, Captain never attended the Parliament, as MLA he never came to Vidhan Sabha, and as CM he never went to Secretariat,” he said, adding that this shows how incompetent and inaccessible leader he was.
Mann’s revelations came when his decision to recover the lawyer’s fee in Ansari’s matter from former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder and the then jails Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has snowballed into a major controversy.
Randhawa, the senior Congress leader and former Deputy Chief Minister, had a day before announced to file a “defamation case” against the Chief Minister Mann for allegedly indulging in his “character assassination” by accusing him of extending largesse to Ansari. He had also challenged the Chief Minister to issue a recovery notice to him with regard to the Ansari matter.
By the evening, Punjab Government had issued notices of recovery to Capt Amarinder and Randhawa for recovery of Rs 17.60 lakh as fee of lawyer in Mukhtar Ansari case.
The move came after the Chief Minister Mann took to Twitter to share a letter signed by him for putting up the file for recovery of the expenditure incurred on the lawyer hired to ensure Ansari remained in Punjab jail equally from Capt Amarinder and Randhawa.
Mann, in the letter, stated that engaging senior advocate Dushyant Dave for defending the case of Ansari was not required “as no public interest or interest of the state of Punjab was involved in the case”.
The letter said that expenditure incurred on the lawyer (Dave) may be recovered equally from former Jail Minister Randhawa and former CM Captain as “they proposed and approved to engage Dave as an advocate in this case”.
Randhawa, later on Monday evening, shared the Punjab Government’s notice — addressed to Randhawa as well as Capt Amarinder — on Twitter, which says that Ansari succeeded to get a concocted FIR registered in January 2019 under Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 386 and 506 for demanding extortion through threats and criminal intimidation respectively.
He was then brought to Punjab on production warrant and lodged in Ropar jail on January 24, 2019, where he was till April 6, 2021. The notice added that UP Government moved the Supreme Court to seek Ansari’s transfer. “Both of you engaged a senior advocate to oppose the transfer of Mukthar Ansari even though no public interest or the interest of the state of Punjab was involved. Now, the said senior advocate has raised bills amounting to Rs 55 lakh in this regard and an amount of Rs 17.60 lakh has become payable to him,” said the notice.
“It is felt that the amount liable to be paid to the said senior advocate should be recovered equally from both of you as you have proposed and approved respectively to engage him as an advocate for this case. You are asked to show cause within 15 days, as to why the amount mentioned should not be recovered from you,” read the notice.
Notably, the Chief Minister on Sunday had declared that he would recover the amount of Rs 55 lakh spent on Ansari’s “cozy stay” in the Rupnagar jail during the previous Congress Government in the state from former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder and then Jail Minister Randhawa.
Mann had said that in case the two did not give the money, “their pension and other benefits will be stopped”.
Responding to the allegations, Randhawa addressed the media in the morning slamming Mann for accusing him of extending largesse to gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari. He alleged that the Chief Minister has a habit of indulging in character assassination. “I will file a defamation case…. I will never tolerate humiliation,” said the Congress leader.
