By IANS
Lucknow : Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav Thursday came out in support of those officials of his regime who have been indicted by the Uttar Pradesh government for out-of-turn allotments of prime residential plots here to his close lieutenants including party general secretary Amar Singh.
“The inquiry is politically motivated and (Chief Minister) Mayawati’s objective is to only harass those who were close to me,” Yadav told mediapersons here.
The allotments of 28 plots had come under scrutiny by a high-level probe ordered by the new government.
In its report, the one-man inquiry commission comprising Lucknow Divisional Commissioner Vijay Shankar Pandey has held half a dozen officials including a senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer guilty of violating all rules and norms in making the allotments.
The report has also recommended the lodging of criminal cases against allegedly guilty officers.
Saying the inquiry officer was “biased”, Yadav added: “If I wanted I could have sent that officer behind bars as all IAS officers wanted him to be arrested for his misdeeds, but I spared him.”
Besides Amar Singh, the beneficiaries of the allotments included the former chief minister’s son Akhilesh Yadav, who was also MP from the Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency. Among others were a number of IAS officers enjoying close proximity to Yadav.