National Congress Party leader Nawab Malik claimed on Friday that he made public the photos of Dr. Shabana Qureshi, NCB officer Sameer Wankhede’s first wife with her prior consent.
The Maharashtra minister Malik also said that he has never said anything against Kranti Redkar, the present wife of Wankhede, and so she should not play the “Marathi card”.
The reporters asked Malik whether it was appropriate to use the photos of the first wife of Wankhede Dr. Shabana Qureshi when the couple had already divorced by mutual consent a few years ago.
When he received the photos from someone, the minister said he was informed that the person (in the pictures) had agreed that they could be used.
Dr. Shabana Qureshi was never willing to come forward or speak over this issue (earlier), he said. “When Sameer Wankhede started stressing that he is Hindu, they had to speak up. Her father then told everyone that they always knew Wankhede family as being Muslim,” Malik added.
He further said that he never made any comment or allegation against actor Kranti Redkar.
“While she has been playing the Marathi card, I want to underscore the fact that I and my family have been living in Maharashtra for almost 70 years. Am I not a Maharashtrian?” Malik said.
The state minority affairs minister further said Redkar should not forget that her husband was “part of a conspiracy to defame Maharashtra and Mumbai.”
“I do not think a person will be saved only because he is a Maharashtrian, even if he belongs to a certain caste or religion,” he added.
NCP’s Nawab Malik has made several allegations against the NCB zonal director, Sameer Wankhede following a raid by the NCB on a cruise ship during which actor Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan was arrested along with several others after allegedly recovering drugs.
Wankhede got a government job in the Scheduled Castes category even though he was Muslim by birth, the minister also claimed. Wankhede has also maintained that he is Hindu.
(Inputs from PTI)
