A day after Asha Kumari was named the Congress secretary in-charge of Punjab — even though she had been convicted in an alleged land grab case — the party defended her appointment strongly: indeed, it hit back at the BJP, pointing out that the latter’s president “Amit Shah is an accused in a murder case and is out on bail.”
“Mr. Shah is charged with murder and is out on bail. Yeddyurappa, who was accused in several corruption cases has been made BJP chief in Karnataka,” party spokesman Kapil Sibal said. “Ten cases are pending against Keshav Prasad Maurya who has been made BJP chief in Uttar Pradesh.” The Congress, he stressed would “never think of appointing a murder accused as its chief”.
He also alleged that some BJP ministers in Gujarat continued to occupy their posts despite being “convicted” by the courts.
Providing details in the case of Ms. Kumari, (originally from Chhattisgarh and who married into the Chamba family), accused no. seven in the land grab case, a Congress press release pointed out that though she was convicted, “the judgement itself exonerated her.”
The judgement says “…accused no. 7 was not at Chamba in the year 1979 and the tenants had acquired proprietary rights before the execution of the GPAs in her favour and only thereafter she had executed the sale deeds in favour of her husband….accused no. 7 is sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for one year and a fine of Rs. 8000 for offences under Sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 read with section 120-B”.”
Commenting on this, the Congress release said: “The logic of the judge borders on absurdity as it brings Smt. Asha Kumari into a supposed criminal conspiracy by virtue of Section 120 B even though the same judge agrees she could not possibly have been present or connected with said set of facts or events as she had no connection with Chamba in Himachal Pradesh (as she was not yet married)…”
The genesis of the case is a family dispute between Raja Prem Singh of Chamba and his younger brother late Rajkumar Brijendra Singh, the husband of Asha Kumari, over ancestral properties, the release said. It alleged that Raja Prem Singh had, with the connivance of the then BJP Chief Minister P.K. Dhumal, got the case registered.
Speaking separately, Ms. Kumari rejected demands for her resignation, asserting she had party president’s Sonia Gandhi’s “full mandate”.
