As Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati countered the crisis in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) by disowning the ‘rebel' former Minister and her one-time close confidant, Babu Singh Kushwaha, the Congress has upped the ante by backing him.
The former Family Welfare Minister, who had to quit in the wake of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam and the mysterious death of deputy CMO Y.S. Sachan, created a flutter in the BSP circles when he accused a senior Minister and two key government officials of plotting to eliminate him.
In a letter to Ms. Mayawati, Mr. Kushwaha alleged that there was a threat to his life from Public Welfare Department Minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh and Principal Secretary (Home) Kunwar Fateh Bahadur and demanded security cover.
Copies of the letter were reportedly sent to the Prime Minister, the Governor, Chief Justices of the Supreme Court and the Allahabad High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation director and the Union Home Secretary.
‘Political drama'
BSP's State unit president Swamy Prasad Maurya was quick to dub the former Minister's allegations as a political drama in a press release issued late on Saturday night.
The Congress has supported Mr. Kushwaha's demand for security cover. State unit president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said on Sunday that his allegations cannot be taken lightly as his “life is in danger.”
Talking to journalists at the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters, she alleged that the former Minister served as a conduit for garnering funds for the BSP.
She alleged that the links of the NRHM scam extended up to the Chief Minister's office. What had created doubts over the former Minister's allegations, and raised suspicion over behind the scene activity, was that the letter he (purportedly) wrote to the Chief Minister was in English. Informed sources said the language had never been used as a medium of communication by him earlier. Mr. Kushwaha was himself on a sticky wicket.
CBI probe
Following his resignation in April and the CBI probe in the NRHM scam, the Lokayukta had initiated an inquiry against him for allegedly acquiring disproportionate assets.
Besides, a petition alleging that ‘Babu Singh Kushwaha' was not his real name is pending before the High Court.
In his statement, Mr. Maurya said that since the law was catching up with Mr. Kushwaha, he had resorted to dramebaazi (drama). When Mr. Kushwaha was a Minister there was no threat to his life from Mr. Siddiqui, the Cabinet Secretary or Principal Secretary (Home).
“It is quite surprising that since he is no longer in the Ministry, he was suddenly talking about his life being in danger,” Mr. Maurya said. Describing the charges as baseless, he said he was no longer an active member of the BSP and not associated with party programmes.
