Nawab Malik tarnishing image of budding leaders from minority community: BJP leader Ashish Shelar

MUMBAI: BJP leader Ashish Shelar on Wednesday defended the appointments of certain individuals made by former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to government boards, hours after state minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik accused Fadnavis of appointing people with "criminal" background during his tenure.

Speaking to reporters, Shelar said the decision to appoint Haji Arafat Sheikh and Haji Haider, whose names were referred to by Malik in his presser, was taken by the previous government because their inquiry reports were clean.

"It is true that Haji Arafat, Haji Haider and Munna Yadav were appointed to some government boards by the previous government led by Devendra Fadnavis. Haji Arafat and Haji Haider's appointments were cleared after the inquiry reports against them came clean," the former state minister said.

He said there was one allegation against Munna Yadav which he will clarify.

"There might be some charges against Arafat and Haider but they must be regarding political rallies and public events," he claimed.

Earlier in the day, Malik had accused Fadnavis of suppressing the October 8, 2017 seizure of fake notes with the face value of Rs 14.56 crore by the DRI from the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in Mumbai.

Malik had claimed that one Imran Alam Sheikh who was arrested in this case is the brother of Haji Arfat Sheikh, who was made the chairman of the state minority commission.

The minister had also claimed that Munna Yadav from Nagpur was made the chairman of the Maharashtra Construction Workers Welfare Board despite criminal charges like murder registered against him.

Hitting back, Shelar said, "If these people were involved in some wrongdoings then why the incumbent MVA government has not taken any action against them? The home ministry is with NCP. Why is the NCP making accusations and running away?" Shelar claimed Imran Alam Shaikh was the then secretary of the Congress party.

"He is now with the NCP. What explanation will the party give now? Malik is tarnishing the image of all the budding minority leaders in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra. The question is why is he doing so?" he asked.