JALANDHAR: Family members of Congress MLA Sushil Rinku , who last week locked horns with local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu over action against illegal colonies, have a stake in two such illicit localities in Jalandhar , said leaders of the BJP here on Wednesday.Rinku had climbed up an earth-moving machine of the Jalandhar MC on June 15 to stop it from razing illegal structures. On Wednesday, BJP leaders Amit Taneja and Sheetal Angural produced sale deeds of two plots — one commercial and one residential — in an illegal colony near Babu Jagjiwan Ram Road here in which the buyer is Rinku’s wife, Sunita Rinku.They also produced mutation of another chunk of land registered in the name of Rinku and his kin, saying an illegal colony was carved out on the same piece of land and four new passages were opened to the colony from different streets.In response, Rinku questioned the track record of the two BJP leaders and said there was no illegality in purchasing plots in an unauthorised colony. He said he was not aware of a colony being developed on land previously owned by his family. “We sold it out two-three months ago,” he said.Taneja, who is BJP’s state social-media head, and Angural, who is a leader of the saffron party’s SC morcha, said chief minister Amarinder Singh should break his silence and tell the people of the state who was right – his minster or MLA.Providing copies of the two sale deeds registered on May 17, 2018, showing Sunita as buyer, Taneja and Angural said it was mentioned in the sale deed that no financial transaction was made before the sub-registrar and money was paid beforehand.While the commercial plot is priced at Rs 4.7 lakh and measures 1 marla and 193 square feet, the second plot measures four marlas and 92 square feet and is priced at Rs 3.60 lakh, showed copies of the deeds. “The plots are located in an illegal colony and the municipal corporation (MC) had earlier taken action against it. There were boards stating it to be an illegal colony, but they were removed after the Congress came to power,” the BJP leaders said.They added that the plots had been undervalued in the sale deeds. “Government rules say any transaction above Rs 2 lakh should be done through bank, but all transactions are in cash here,” they said. “Why should an MLA purchase plots in an illegal colony, especially after the state government has declared a one-time settlement policy.”Producing copy of mutation of another chunk of land, they said the land was bought by Rinku, his mother and three sisters on January 30, 2018. “They are partners in this land measuring three and half acres, but a colony is being carved out there also and four passages have been laid. It is possible the MLA ans his family sold their share, but how could he remain unaware of an illegal colony being developed on prime land in his constituency,” they said. “In place of reporting it to the authorities, he is stopping action against illegal colonies.”They said the land was known as Dussehra Ground and had been under litigation for 20 years. “These are the ‘two-two marla houses’ which Rinku pretended to protect when he climbed up that machine,” they said while taking dig at the Congress MLA, who had said that he was fighting for public interest and to protect the poor owners of two-two marla plots.

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