BJP’s Kausar Jahan is new Delhi Haj Committee chief; AAP calls it result of ‘unholy alliance’ between Cong and BJP

“We believe she will bring greater transparency in the working of the minority body and will help increase the number of women in Haj pilgrims every year,” said Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva.

Kausar (36), who was born in Mumbai and has roots in Hyderabad, joined BJP four years ago. “I joined BJP four years ago officially, but unofficially I have worked for the party for 15 years as part of the minority morcha… It will be an honour to work for the Haj Committee,” she said.

She also appealed to AAP leaders to set aside politics and work together. “Making arrangements and fulfilling dreams of the people going for Haj is a very paak (pure) act… My only message to my AAP brothers is to not play politics in this pure service,” she said.

Meanwhile, the AAP said a BJP leader had been elected because of Delhi L-G V K Saxena’s “dishonesty”. “Many people are saying that AAP has suffered a setback in Haj Committee elections because, for the first time, a BJP worker has been chosen as chairperson. This is being portrayed as a big win for BJP. Before this, most did not even know that chairperson of the committee was an elected person. The chairperson is elected from six members of the committee, who are traditionally nominated by the elected government. When the government selects electors, obviously one person is elevated from among them, usually by consensus. But this time, the L-G played a dishonest trick in committee formation. The names sent by elected government were changed by him. When you pick the committee, it is obvious that chairperson will be your person,” said AAP national spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj.

The Haj Committee has six members — two MLAs, one MP, one councillor and two outside nominees. In the present committee, members are AAP MLAs Abdul Rahman and Haji Yunus, BJP MP Gautam Gambhir, Congress Councillor Naziya Danish, and Kausar Jahan and Mohammad Saad, an Islamic scholar. Danish skipped Thursday’s meeting where the voting took place.

“The attitude of the Congress councillor is worth noting. She skipped elections. Had she come, it would have been clear who she voted for — AAP or BJP. Had she voted for BJP, her constituents would have questioned her. Had she voted for AAP, there would have been a tie for the post. Jahan’s election has been achieved by an unholy alliance between Congress and BJP,” Bharadwaj said.

Neither Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Anil Chaudhary nor Danish responded to calls or messages.

The Delhi government and the L-G have sparred over the composition of the committee in the past, with Delhi government officials accusing the L-G of deliberately bypassing Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot in nomination of the six members. L-G House officials had defended its decision and said nominations fell under the purview of the Union List and not the Concurrent List, thereby falling under the ambit of the L-G in his capacity as administrator.

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal wrote to the L-G arguing that the elected government would “become irrelevant” because, practically in every law and provision, the word Administrator was used.

AAP MLA Atishi Thursday said the Haj Committee comes under the state government’s revenue department and, like the subjects such as schools, hospitals, electricity and water, it comes under the list of ‘Transferred Subjects’. “The Constitution of India and orders of Constitution Bench make it very clear that the L-G does not have any independent decision-making powers on Transferred Subjects,” she said.

Delhi BJP spokesperson, Syed Yaser Jilani, attacked the AAP and said, “Kejriwal does not believe in giving any position of authority to women and he and his party are shocked to see that BJP has given an opportunity to a woman to serve at Delhi Haj Committee.”