By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) move to take in a tainted former Uttar Pradesh minister Wednesday led to differences in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), with ally Janata Dal-United saying it was a wrong move.
“Tainted people should not get a ticket for Uttar Pradesh polls,” JD-U leader and NDA convenor Sharad Yadav told reporters, a day after Babu Singh Kushwaha, who has been expelled from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), joined the BJP.
“If ticket has been given to some (tainted) people, what can I say, they are our allies, I am sorry…” Yadav said.
The CBI Wednesday raided the premises of Kushwaha and his associates in connection with the Rs.10,000 crore National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam. The raids were being conducted at 60 places in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.
Kushwaha has been named as an accused in one of the five FIRs registered against the NRHM officials and private companies in Uttar Pradesh.
Kushwaha, who used to be a confidant of BSP chief Mayawati, has been charged with criminal misconduct and misuse of office in implementing the NRHM scheme as the family welfare minister in the state.
He belongs to the Kushwaha community, which comprises nearly four percent of the voters in Uttar Pradesh, where assembly elections will be held February 4-28.