BATHINDA: Barely two months after he joined AAP, Dalit icon Bant Singh Jhabbar on Wednesday accused the leaders of his former party, the CPI(ML) Liberation, and its labourer wing Mazdoor Mukti Morcha (MMM) of swindling his oversees assistance grant. Jhabbar has also accused CPI(ML) Liberation of not supporting him in a case where a villager usurped his land.However, the CPI(ML) and MMM leaders have denied the allegations and accused Bant of playing politics to gain sympathy for himself. Bant was a CPI(ML) member for nearly 10 years and had joined AAP in December last year, only a few days before the assembly elections in Punjab."When both by arms and a leg were amputated in January 2006, a lot of money was sent (for him) by people from various countries and also from within India. The CPI(ML) leaders would only issue receipts for the money sent through cheques or bank instruments. But whatever cash, which was in lakhs, was sent for me was usurped by them. I remained mum all these years because I had no other option as the party stood by me when I was attacked by men from upper castes from my village. I had to stay with them to repay their goodwill," he said."I will take up the matter with AAP convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal after the Punjab assembly results on March 11," he added.CPI (ML) Liberation leader Sukhdarshan Singh Natt said the money for Bant was accounted for. "Most of the receipts were for cheques or demand drafts. Whatever cash was received for mobilising protests was used in staging agitations comprising over 4,000-5,000 people. The money received for mobilisation was spent only on protests. Not a single penny was misappropriated. He spent the money in the marriage of his son and daughter, purchasing a car and renovating his house," he claimed.

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