LUCKNOW: BJP MLA from Mohammadabad seat, Alka Rai, has written a letter to Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, accusing her party government in Punjab of helping gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari evade appearance in courts in Uttar Pradesh.
Alka Rai is the wife of MLA Krishanand Rai, who was shot dead in 2005 along with six others.
Ansari and seven others were acquitted in the case citing lack of evidence.
Ansari, sitting BSP MLA from Mau, is presently lodged in a Punjab jail in connection with an extortion case.
"I have been fighting for justice for my husband for the past 14 years," she said, alleging that Ansari was being given open patronage by the Congress."
"Courts in Uttar Pradesh have summoned Mukhtar Ansari but the Punjab government is not ready to send him to UP. Every time I and so many like me are being deprived of justice on one pretext or the other," Rai said in the letter.
"This is most shameful that your party and the government led by it were standing blatantly in support of Mukhtar Ansari. No one will believe that all this is happening without your or Rahulji's knowledge," she said.
"Every victim is waiting for the moment when Mukhtar gets strict punishment. You are yourself a woman and it is my humble question to you as to why you are doing this," she said, terming as "most regrettable" that the Congress was standing with the "disgusting criminal".
The BJP MLA said she has come to know through media reports that whenever the UP Police has gone to bring back Ansari, the Punjab government has "saved" him by advising him rest on medical grounds.
"The people of Uttar Pradesh want to know why Rahulji and Priyankaji are silent on the questions being raised regarding Mukhtar. Why are you trying to save this notorious criminal under the compulsion of vote bank," she said.
Rai hoped Priyanka Gandhi would not only reply to her letter but also help in ensuring justice.