By IANS,
New Delhi : The Congress party Wednesday accused the Uttar Pradesh government of yet another scam, alleging that there had been false claims for fertiliser subsidies from Lucknow between 1994-2000. But this time the party has pointed fingers at the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) too.
The Congress, which has been soft towards BSP supremo Mayawati during the campaigning for five phases of state polls, alleged that all the non-Congress parties, including BSP and Samajwadi Party – had been hand in glove to conceal a Rs.10 billion fertiliser scam by the then BJP government.
Senior party leader Kapil Sibal told reporters here that, “False claims for subsidy were made by fertiliser units in Uttar Pradesh between 1994-2000.”
The central government’s order to conduct an inquiry had been scuttled by successive state governments, he added.
“These parties – Samajwadi Party, BSP and BJP – were supporting each other to stop the scam from being exposed,” said Sibal, who is also the science and technology minister.
Sibal had earlier accused the current Mulayam Singh government of its involvement in land and food good grain scandals.
He alleged that the then BJP government misappropriated funds for the fertiliser subsidies to the state.
“Fertiliser subsidy was being claimed continuously from 1994-2000,” Sibal added.
But according to him, the claims of transactions involving the purchase of rock phosphate, its transportation through railway wagons to its destination for consumers were all fake.
Sibal said the Special Investigating Bureau (SIB) of the agricultural cell had submitted a report indicating that the claims of the respective units in the state were fake.
“Surprisingly, on Jan 1, 2003, while Mayawati was chief minister, Uttar Pradesh abolished the SIB and no further action was taken,” he added.
“It is a serious issue relating to federal funding,” Sibal said.