‘Not BJP but Congress leaders offered money to stay silent on Waqf Board land encroachments’

Mangaluru: A day after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah alleged that State BJP President B.Y. Vijayendra offered Rs. 150 crore to Anwar Manippady, the then Chairman of the Karnataka State Minorities Commission, to remain silent on the encroachment of Waqf Board properties, the controversy has taken a new twist with Manippady dismissing the CM’s claims as completely baseless.

Speaking to reporters at Mangaluru yesterday, Manippady dismissed Siddaramaiah’s allegations that he (Manippady) was offered Rs.150 crore by Vijayendra for maintaining silence on Waqf Board property encroachments.

Maintaining that he did not know who Vijayendra was in 2012-13, but had only heard his name, Manippady said that it was Congress leaders who had offered him money then.

Asserting that he had vented his anger at his own party, the BJP, for failing to implement the recommendations made in his report on Waqf Board properties, he said he was also angered by the actions of his own partymen who had stalled the implementation of the recommendations.

Admitting that he had written to the Prime Minister seeking a CBI probe into Waqf Board properties encroachment, he clarified that he was not offered any money by BJP leaders.

CBI probe will land Congress in soup

Contending that the ordering of a CBI probe on the findings of his report would land many Congress leader in trouble, Manippady said the Chief Minister should act on the recommendations of his report if at all he had any care or concerns  for the Minorities.

Continuing, Manippady said that the Sub-Registrar value of Waqf properties in the State was Rs. 2.30 lakh crore when he took over as Minorities Commission Chairman over a decade ago. He wondered how the Siddaramaiah Government had issued notices only to agricultural lands owned by farmers and why it recalled the notices after much uproar by the Opposition.

Pitting communities with each other

Opining that the Congress Government’s actions were aimed at turning the minor and major communities against each other, he said that his report has been accepted by the High Court, Supreme Court and also the Lokayukta. The Siddaramaiah Government must order a probe based on the findings of his report and the  guilty must be punished.

Noting that there would be no need for agitation on Waqf row if a probe is ordered, he observed that the BJP has taken up the Waqf Board issue as it seems there is no other way for it.

“The BJP has been raising the issue as the people will be suspicious of the party if it does not take up the issue. Everything will have to come out either today or tomorrow. The day will surely come when the landed property grabbers have to go to jail,” he said adding that he had even met Prime Minister Modi to appeal him for ordering a probe into the findings of his report.

“The PM has said he will soon look into the matter. The Union Government too has woken up after taking note of my report, which is attached with 10,000 pages of supporting documents as proof. Siddaramaiah is walking his own imaginary way and perhaps he is not seeing the right path down under. Of late, he is issuing absurd and irresponsible statements, instead of ordering a fair and impartial probe into all encroachments,” Manippady argued.

CM reacts: Meanwhile, CM Siddaramaiah said that the State Government has written to the Centre on State BJP Chief B.Y. Vijayendra’s Rs. 150 crore offer to Manippady, based on video records.

Maintaining that the media very well knows whether the voice in the video is that of Anwar Manippady or not, he asserted that the Centre can very well order a CBI probe if                                                         Manippady’s assertion that Congress leaders will be caught if a CBI probe is conducted.

Congress MLA Harris has encroached on Waqf land

Congress MLA N.A. Harris is involved in the encroachment of Waqf properties. He has grabbed 24 acres of land along Bengaluru International Airport Road, which has been registered in the name of his (Harris) wife and mother. Former Union Minister K. Rahman Khan too has transferred prime landed properties to benami persons by misusing his power. A fair probe into encroachments would reveal the factual quantum of farmer lands and that of Waqf properties. —Anwar Manippady, former Chairman, Karnataka State Minorities Commission