Jagdambika Pal takes on Kejriwal for meeting Tauqeer Raza Khan

Congress leader Jagdambika Pal on Wednesday criticised Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal for meeting controversial cleric Tauqeer Raza Khan, who had issued a fatwa against Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen.

"As today Arvind Kejriwal called Tauqeer Raza Khan in its campaign so it might be possible that he would call Baba Ramdev tomorrow for its campaign, so what is the difference between BJP and AAP," said Jagdambika Pal.

Amid political controversy, Kejriwal on Tuesday clarified that by meeting with Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, he was not playing any communal card ahead of the assembly elections.

"I want to clear one thing first. I went to offer prayers in Bareilly. Maulana Tauqeer Raza is a respected man, and I met him because he is the head there. And I appealed to him that everyone should save this nation. We are trying to tackle evil politics with love and peace. I have no idea about charges levelled against him," he told media here yesterday.

"We spoke to him again today, and he told us that the charges on him are wrong.

Tauqeer Raza said he had never issued a fatwa, because only a Mufti can issue one, and he is not a Mufti. He said there was a board of 100 members, and he was a member of that board some time back. And the Mufti issued a fatwa. He said he was targetted because people knew him well,' he added.

He also said that there were no plans of the controversial cleric campaigning for Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and that there is no question of forming an alliance.

"We are not forming an alliance. I just went to Bareilly, offered my prayers at the mosques, met him and came back. If there are any charges levelled against him, let the law take its own course," he said.

Earlier on November 1, Arvind Kejriwal met Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan in Bareilly, which sparked a political conspiracy today, saying that the AAP leader is playing a communal card ahead of the assembly elections in Delhi.

According to reports, Maulana Khan had said in 2007 that the only way a fatwa against Taslima Nasreen, whose writings clerics denounced as anti-Islam, could be withdrawn was if she burnt her books and left India.