Charges baseless, I''m here to stay, says Congress Punjab incharge

Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, June 27

Newly appointed Congress incharge for Punjab Asha Kumari on Monday said she is here to stay and that all land-grab charges against her were baseless and the rivals were making the most of a non-issue.

“This is a non-issue. I’m here to stay. We will see the Congress win Punjab. I’m not going to oblige the opponents but I’m glad they are displaying fear of me,” Asha Kumari told The Tribune after meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi in the morning.

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Kumari was sentenced to one-year imprisonment by a Chamba court this February in an alleged land-grab case.
The five-time Himachal MLA trashed the land-grab charges as “fashionable” and said the Himachal Pradesh High Court had suspended the sentence of the lower court.

Read more: HP MLA Asha Kumari Punjab Cong incharge

“The High Court has admitted our appeal accepting that many points in the case are arguable. So where is the case? In any case the matter pertains to the inheritance of my father-in-law’s properties and transactions happened in 1975 when I was not even married. I married only in 1979. My father-in-law’s properties went to my husband and then to me and my daughter after his death. Revenue authorities have ruled all property papers to be true and proper. It’s absurd to say I’ve grabbed my father-in-law’s properties. If inheriting in-laws’ property is land grab, all of India is grabbing land,” Asha Kumari said, adding that Sonia Gandhi didn’t discuss this matter and they focused only on Punjab.

Asha, currently AICC secretary, Haryana, asked why rivals didn’t raise the case when she was handling Jharkhand as AICC secretary and other organisational roles.

Asked if she would be on the defensive on the issue in poll-bound Punjab, Asha said, “Not at all, I’m clear. The BJP government in Himachal had flagged this criminal case against me 11 years ago. I then resigned as state minister on my own. After that I’ve repeatedly won elections from Dalhousie. I’m not facing any corruption case. This is just a case of lower court’s adverse order suspended by the HC. As of today I’m not a convict,”

Asha Kumari said the BJP and AAP were not to decide who would handle what organisational role.

Meanwhile, PCC chief Captain Amarinder Singh today defended Kumari’s appointment as Congress Punjab incharge.

“I was taken into confidence by Congress president Sonia Gandhi a week ago before her appointment. She is hard working and an able politician and we will work as a team,” the former Chief Minister said, adding that the role of the new appointee would be to assist the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president.

Capt Amarinder also lashed out at Opposition parties for criticising Kumari’s appointment, saying they should better introspect and look within before pointing fingers at the Congress Party.

“It is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black", he remarked, while lambasting Akalis, BJP and Aam Aadmi Party leaders for their "double standards".