In a surprise move, the ruling Samajwadi Party inducted kin of former BSP Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha into the party fold. Kushwaha is presently lodged in jail in connection with the multi-crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam.
Kushwaha’s wife Shivkanya and his brother Shivshanker Kushwaha along with thousands of supporters joined the party at the
State SP headquarters. The enthusiastic workers shouted pro-Government slogans terming Mulayam Singh as the saviour of the poor and downtrodden. Interestingly, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav who was supposed to inform the media about the development, skipped the Press meet and left it to Samajwadi
Party spokesperson and State Minister Rajendra Chaudhary to make the announcement.
Chaudhary huffed and puffed trying to explain as to why family members of this tainted BSP Minister were inducted into the party. However, he could not come up with convincing reply as to why Mulayam Singh skipped the Press meet.
“The SP is fighting for the cause of social justice in UP and as there is a political turmoil before lok Sabha polls, their joining the party would help us both,” he said.
Claiming that both Shivshanker and Shivkanya were social workers and they have no criminal background, Chaudhary defended their joining saying: “Why is such a hue and cry being made about it. Babu Singh Kushwaha has not joined the party.”
“Both the social workers have expressed their faith in the ideology and policies of the Samajwadi Party and Mulayam Singh Yadav,” Chaudhary said.
Recently, the UP Government had ordered a Vigilance probe against Kushwaha in connection with the memorial scam.
When asked whether the family members of other tainted Ministers too would join the SP, Chaudhary quipped: “Wait till lok Sabha polls. There would not be any opposition to the Samajwadi Party.”
He said that the SP is against criminalisation of politics and would not interfere in the CBI probe into the NRHM scam against Babu Singh Kushwaha.
Induction draws
flak from BSP
Pioneer News Service n lucknow
Criticising the Samajwadi Party for inducting the wife and brother of former BSP Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, the State BSP unit said that the step proved that the party is the “haven” for corrupt elements.
“Soon after coming to power, the SP had ordered probes by SIT, Vigilance and others against Kushwaha and now they are inducting his close kin into the party,” leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha and senior BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya told reporters in lucknow.
Reacting to the induction of kin of jailed BSP Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha into the SP, the BJP said that the induction proves that the SP does not have the political will to fight corruption and criminals.
BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that Kushwaha’s family has found a political asylum in the Samajwadi Party. “The leaders joined the SP because it harbours corrupt and criminals,” he said.