Giving a strong signal of going along with Samajwadi Party in the coming parliamentary election, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati came out in open support of, Akhilesh Yadav, the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and national president of SP.
Attacking the Central government for misusing the CBI, Mayawati called Akhilesh up and extended full support to him after reports emerged that he might be quizzed in connection with the mining scam.
“Do not worry about such gimmicks of the ruling party,” Mayawati told Yadav, while terming the reports of raid by the CBI as “political animosity” of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
The BSP chief also alleged that like the Congress, the ruling BJP was “misusing” the government machinery to “trap” its opponents in false cases.
“The CBI raids and later the threat of quizzing by the CBI in a mining scam is nothing but political animosity of the BJP. Such petty politics and political conspiracy are not new for the BJP. The people of the country have understood it and they will teach the BJP a lesson in the Lok Sabha polls,” Mayawati said in a press release.
It said that Mayawati called up Yadav on Sunday and talked to him over the issue.
“The day the news of the SP-BSP top leadership meeting came out, the BJP government used the CBI and raids were conducted in an old mining scam and the news of quizzing Akhilesh Yadav was deliberately spread. Is it not an action to defame the SP-BSP alliance?” Mayawati said. Yadav may face a CBI probe in a case of illegal mining, according to the agency FIR made public on Saturday, the day SP and BSP indicated their intent to join hands in Uttar Pradesh to fight the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. The agency had also carried out searches at 14 locations.
“If this CBI action is not a political conspiracy, then why did BJP leaders issue statements and why did a BJP leader and minister acted as CBI spokesperson,” Mayawati asked.
Claiming that she was “framed” in the Taj corridor case in 2003 when she did not agree to an alliance for the 2004 general elections, Mayawati said, “But later the people took revenge and the BSP got absolute majority in the 2007 assembly polls.”
According to the press release, the BSP chief reminded Yadav of these past incidents and asked him not to get shaken while asserting that people would give a befitting reply to the BJP. The BSP supremo also alleged that the BJP, after coming to power in 2014, had been misusing government machinery for political gains and threatening rivals and giving relief “to BJP leaders in criminal cases”.
Terming the CBI raids “politically motivated”, the SP chief had on Sunday also questioned the credibility of the federal investigation agency. On a formal announcement of seat-sharing with the BSP, Yadav had said that it was likely to be made within a week. He, however, maintained suspense on accommodating the Congress in the alliance, which also includes Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal.