SP govt plans action on BSP’s corrupt leaders

After allowing files related to corruption during the Mayawati regime to gather dust for almost four-and-a-half-year, the Akhilesh government is now planing to take action against guilty political leaders.

Sources said that the officials concerned were being asked to wrap up probes at the earliest, so that action may be initiated before the Assembly elections.

According to highly-placed sources in the state government, the move will counter the Bharatiya Janata Party’s allegations that the Samajwadi Party is hand-in-glove with the Bahujan Samaj Party on the corruption issue.

After the Akhilesh government came to power in 2012, cases related to the multi-crore scam over memorials constructed in Noda and Lucknow were registered against former BSP ministers Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Babu Singh Kushwaha. During the party campaign, SP leaders made the corruption during the Mayawati regime a major issue, and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav even promised to set up a judicial commission to probe the corruption cases. However, after coming to power, the party conveniently forgot its promises. The UP lokayukta, which was flooded with complaints against several former BSP ministers, probed the cases and sent its recommendations to the government, but to no avail.

The leaders against whom action was sought include Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Swami Prasad Maurya, Avadh Pal Singh, Ram Achal Rajbhar, Ramvir Upadhyaya, Badshah Singh, Ratanlal Ahirwar, Ayodhya Prasad Pal and Rajesh Tripathi.

Not even a single report submitted by the lokayukta was tabled in the state Assembly. Governor Ram Naik, last week, further queered the pitch as he shot a letter to the state government, seeking an action-taken report on the lokayukta’s recommendations.

B. P. Singh, director general, vigilance, admitted on Monday that investigations in most cases are complete.

However, an SP minister said the government should take action before the campaign begins.

“People are asking us what we have done in these matters, as it was a poll promise. We need to take action before it is too late,” he added.

Meanwhile, the BSP — fully aware that the state government is preparing to take action against its leaders — is ready to term it “nothing but political vendetta”.