Khan is not new to controversies
One of the Muslim faces of the Arvind Kejriwal cabinet, Amanatullah Khan had stirred a storm in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by his comments against Kumar Vishwas. But, for Khan this was not the first controversy he was embroiled in.
A native of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, Khan had contested from the Okhla constituency as a Lok Jan Shakti party candidate in 2013 but lost. In 2015, however, he defeated BJP’s Braham Singh by a margin of over 60,000 votes.
Khan, who was suspended from the party on Wednesday, was also the chairman of the Delhi Wakf board till the body was dissolved by then Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
The MLA also faces alleged serious criminal charges of sexual harassment, molestation, and dowry. He is also facing an investigation by the Delhi government’s Anti-corruption Branch (ACB) for alleged irregularities in the recruitment of employees at the Wakf board during his tenure as chairman.
The ACB has accused Khan of employing AAP volunteers without following a transparent recruitment process. The antigraft body has quizzed Khan twice so far. He has been arrested twice since becoming an MLA. Khan had to resign from all official posts on September 10, 2016 after a case of sexual harassment was registered against him.
On Monday, Khan had accused Vishwas of trying to break the party and claimed that the poet-politician was acting at the behest of BJP.
On Wednesday, the political affairs committee of the AAP suspended Khan for his remarks and made Vishwas the party incharge for Rajasthan.
Vishwas, Aam Aadmi Party’s newly appointed Rajasthan in-charge, has donned many a hat.
An engineering student who dropped out and PhD in Hindi Literature, he went on to teach college students In Rajasthan and Ghaziabad but never left his first love –poetry.
Fourty seven-year-old Vishwas -- originally from Pilkhuwa in Uttar Pradesh -- is a founder member of the AAP and was associated with Anna Hazare’s movement.
He was the face of the party in UP when AAP fought the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Vishwas fought the polls against Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and BJP’s Smriti Irani in Amethi but could only manage about 25,000 votes.
Vishwas landed in trouble when a party volunteer accused him of sexual harassment. In July last year, a witness examined in the case denied the allegations against Vishwas.
He was the first to say the party should go beyond blaming electronic voting machines for its defeat in the assembly elections in Goa and Punjab, and the municipal elections in Delhi. HTC