Sabir Ali on being shown the door by BJP: Naqvi must apologise

Expelled JD(U) leader Sabir Ali, having had his membership to the BJP cancelled within a day of his induction, threatened to drag senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi to the courts if he did not apologise in writing for alleging that the former had links with terrorists and that he harboured Indian Mujahideen terrorist Yasin Bhatkal at his residence. At a press conference, Sabir Ali first fielded his wife Yasmin to speak. “We demand an apology from Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi within 24 hours. He claimed we met a terrorist at our residence. Which binoculars was Naqvi using when he saw this meeting?” [caption id=“attachment_1457631” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sabir Ali. Ibnlive[/caption] Sabir Ali, a former close aide of JD(U) leader and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, said Naqvi must show him proof to back up the allegations he has made or he must apologise. “My children study in reputed schools. We are a respectable family. We have no links to the underworld or terrorists. The allegations are absolutely baseless.” Ali was inducted into the BJP on Saturday but the decision was immediately rolled back following objections from senior leaders including Naqvi, who tweeted his objections, candidly asking if the BJP would next admit Dawood Ibrahim. Until quite recently, outgoing Rajya Sabha MP Sabir Ali was a Nitish Kumar aide. He was expelled form the JD(U) on Monday for making comments in favour of Narendra Modi. The admission of Ali would weaken the BJP’s stand against terrorism, Naqvi had tweeted. He later deleted the tweet. As reported on Firstpost earlier , Ali was the first to speak to television channels when Nitish was contemplating his next move after Modi’s anointment as chairman of BJP’s election campaign committee. “Ali had also grown in affluence during his formative years in Mumbai where he had shifted from a nondescript village in Raxaul, Bihar. Needless to say, there have been contradicting versions within the JD (U) regarding the connection between his affluence and his good fortune in politics. After the Delhi Assembly elections, however, things changed. Nitish Kumar who was riding high after a hugely successful rally at the Ramlila Maidan last year realised it the hard way that the total number of votes polled by the JD (U) candidates in Delhi was only a fraction of that crowd. The party’s prospects tanked, and so did Sabir Ali’s personal prospects in Nitish Kumar’s schemes of things,” Firstpost has reported. On Sunday, a day after his membership was cancelled in the wake of the allegations against him, Ali said he and Naqvi shared cordial relations for years, having spent several years together in the same house of Parliament. “During this time he never made a mention of these allegations. Is it because some people in the BJP are feeling insecure at the arrival of a leader who is genuinely connected at the grassroots level that such allegations are surfacing now?” Ali asked. BJP leaders later said Naqvi would not engage in a mud-slinging match with Ali, but there were indications that the there are mixed opinions in the BJP on Sabir Ali’s membership to the party. At their press conference, Ali’s wife Yasmin threatened to hold a protest outside Naqvi’s house.