Contest from Nuh: Waqf board chief to Abhay

Tribune News Service

Ambala, May 16

Haryana Waqf Board chairman Raheesh Khan, who was recently given the status of Minister of State (MoS), has challenged INLD leader Abhay Chautala to contest the next Assembly elections from any of the three constituencies in Nuh.

Talking to mediapersons here on Wednesday, Khan said that Abhay had disrespected the Muslim community and the voters of Nuh. “I challenge him to contest the next elections from any of the three Assembly seats — Nuh, Ferozpur Zhirka and Punhana — and voters would ensure that he loses his deposit, else I will leave politics,” he said.

The INLD leader had allegedly made some unsavory remarks against Khan.

Regarding the MoS status row, he said it was not a new thing. Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh had already given the MoS status to the waqf board chairmen, he said.

“The MoS rank has nothing to do with recent controversies as the file to grant the status was in process for the last four months,” he said.

On the issue of offering namaz in the open, he said, “With increasing population and a large number of people coming from other states, mosques are facing space crunch. It is the duty of the board to ensure that people get enough space to perform namaz. The board would ensure that there are ample numbers of cremation grounds and mosques so that no unfortunate incident takes place in future.”

“A will identify waqf land under encroachment. The board has also decided to take legal action against those tenants who are not paying their rents,” he said.