By IANS
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday favoured a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the release of poll campaign CDs with alleged communal content, for which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh faces charges.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief apparently responded favourably to appeals by the BJP to soften her stand against Singh and senior BJP leader Lalji Tandon earlier in the day, but she surprised the party late in the evening by favouring a central investigation.
During the assembly elections in April-May 2007, some controversial CDs did the rounds amid reports that Singh and former state minister Tandon were among those who formally released them as part of the election campaign.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Anuj Kumar Bishnoi had filed a case against Singh and Tandon charging them under the Indian Penal Code on grounds of promoting enmity between different religious groups, making assertions prejudicial to national integration, indulging in malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings, uttering words so as to hurt religious feelings and making statements amounting to public mischief.
They were also charged under Sections 123, 125(3) and 3(A) of the Representation of People’s Act.
After becoming the chief minister, Mayawati ordered the reopening of the case last year.
Following investigations by Deputy Superintendent of Police B.P. Ashok, a charge sheet was filed naming Singh and Tandon.
While they were named in the charge sheet on Nov 27, the matter remained under wraps until it was sent up for Mayawati’s statutory approval to prosecute Singh, a former chief minister.
Even BJP leaders woke up to it only as late as Tuesday.
Reacting to the development, Singh said: “Everybody knows that I was not there when the CDs were released.”
BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said it was “gross injustice”. “Would Sonia Gandhi be held accountable for something done by an ordinary Congress worker?” he asked.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley termed the case “politically motivated”.
BJP state legislature party chief Om Prakash Singh told mediapersons here: “We have urged the chief minister not to grant permission for criminal prosecution of Rajnath Singh and Lalji Tandon, as it was a totally false and baseless charge.
“We fail to understand how the charge sheet was filed when the whole issue already stood settled by the Election Commission.”
Earlier in the day, the state’s Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Brij Lal told IANS: “There are some discrepancies in the charge sheet, so we have to view it.”
Lucknow Senior Superintendent of Police Akhil Kumar told reporters, “We have referred the charge sheet to the state law department for scrutiny and we must wait for its comments before we can proceed on it.”