By IANS
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Tuesday vehemently refuted actress-turned Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan’s charge that the state government was hounding her superstar husband Amitabh Bachchan over a land deal.
Without naming Jaya or Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, who held a joint press conference in Bhopal on the issue earlier in the day, Mayawati on Tuesday said, “Apparently those raising their voice in support of Bachchan are seeking cheap publicity.”
The chief minister said in a press statement, “The proceedings initiated against Bachchan were part of a routine exercise undertaken in all cases where evasion of stamp duty is suspected; it is done locally at the district level and has nothing whatsoever to do with the government.”
The statement said, “Some people connected with Bachchan have tried to distort facts with the obvious intent of defaming the chief minister and for gaining cheap publicity.”
The government slapped a notice on Bachchan for evading Rs.690 in stamp duty on registration of land bought in Barabanki for a college named after his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai. The case came up for hearing Monday.
Amar Singh and Jaya Bachchan alleged that it was “political vendetta” by the Mayawati government on account of their close proximity to the Samajwadi Party.
Giving a chronology of facts related to the acquisition of land by Bachchan in Daulatpur village of Barabanki district, the statement also sought to clarify that the proceedings against Bachchan were not initiated in the aftermath of the Supreme Court dismissing a special leave petition moved by the state government in another alleged land scam involving Bachchan in that village.