By IANS,
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Saturday accused the central government of targeting her government on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
Objecting to Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh’s “threat” to recommend a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the alleged irregularities in the MGNREGS, she sought to know if New Delhi had ever issued such threats to any other state government.
Addressing the press on her behalf here, Uttar Pradesh cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh said: “The chief minister has reasons to believe that the central government’s intent behind writing such letters was to paint Uttar Pradesh in poor light on the eve of the assembly elections.”
Claiming that the irregularities pointed out by the central government had been taken note of by her government, he said: “The chief minister was of the view that the central government was bent upon ignoring the action that the state government had already taken against its errant officials.”
Singh added: “As many as 386 officials were facing disciplinary proceedings.”