Mayawati supports Akhilesh against BJP’S ‘dirty tricks’
NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati has phoned Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav to assure him of her support to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as Opposition parties rallied in his support amid reports that he may be questioned in an illegal mining case.
A BSP statement on Monday quoted Mayawati telling Yadav that the BJP’S “dirty tricks” were nothing new.
Mayawati called Yadav after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carried out searches at 14 locations on Saturday as part of its probe into the alleged illegal mining of minor minerals in UP from 2012 to 2016. Yadav, who was the chief minister then, had also held the mining portfolio from 2012 to 2013.
An FIR CBI filed on January 2 in connection with the case said the role of then mining ministers may be looked into.
Yadav accused the CBI of being “a puppet” in the BJP’S hands. He accused it of levelling “false and baseless charges” and vowed to give a “befitting reply” to the BJP. “So far, there has not been any notice or summon from the CBI, then under what constitutional rights did BJP ministers dare to make allegations [against me].”
Yadav listed the BJP government’s “over two dozen scams”. “The BJP government has a long list of scams,’’ He called the Rafale aircraft deal the biggest of
BSP CHIEF CALLS SP PRESIDENT 2 DAYS AFTER CBI RAIDS 14 PLACES IN ILLEGAL MINING CASE
the scams “for which the BJP has no replies”.
Earlier, Mayawati asked Yadav not to worry. The BSP statement quoted her saying the SP and BSP should fight strongly against such conspiracies. “The Centre is using the state machinery against opponents. Instead of panicking, the BJP should be given a befitting reply for targeting the SP president,” the statement quoted Mayawati as saying.
Mayawati linked the raids to reports of an alliance between the BSP and SP for the Lok Sabha elections in the media. “The news that the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will be quizzed was deliberately spread in the media,” she said.
The SP and BSP members created an uproar in Rajya Sabha on Monday alleging political vendetta. Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad echoed them and accused the BJP government of “misusing” probe agencies like the CBI, ED and Income Tax to target Opposition leaders. “We strongly condemn it. Such politics and dictatorship cannot be allowed in India,” Azad said.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal slammed the government for “shamelessly unleashing” the CBI on Yadav. He said it was time to throw out the “dictatorial and undemocratic regime”.
Uttar Pradesh minister Siddharth Nath Singh asked why Opposition leaders were “panicking” over a CBI probe if they have not done anything wrong.