By IANS,
Lucknow: The Congress Friday attacked the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) government in Uttar Pradesh for re-inducting in the state cabinet independent legislator from Kunda, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya.
Raja Bhaiyya was forced to resign from the government after the killing of a senior police officer in Pratapgarh seven months ago.
Alleging that the government was on back-foot after the Muzaffarnagar riots of September, Congress spokesman Dwijendra Tripathi said that by fielding Shiv Kanya Kushwaha, wife of BSP leader Babu Ram Kushwaha, the SP has exposed its affinity with corruption.
Kushwaha is accused of causing the state exchequer a loss of over Rs.16 crore in upgrading 89 district hospitals under the centrally-sponsored National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) scheme.
Last Wednesday, the SP announced that Shiv Kanya Kushwaha would be its candidate from the Ghazipur constituency for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
“The Kushwaha and Raja Bhaiyya episodes show the unholy nexus of corruption and criminals that the ruling dispensation is out to promote and patronise,” Tripathi said.
“With nothing to show for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, the SP is trying everything to garner votes, but the people of the state will never forgive them their sins,” Tripathi said.
The Congress leader also alleged that the state government was enabling obstructions in various probes against Babu Singh Kushwaha.
The Congress also said the ruling party in the state was shielding Urban Development Minister Mohammad Azam Khan, who is under a cloud over allegations of having played a role in the Muzaffarnagar riots last month, which left 47 dead.