Political vendetta via CBI

So nasty is the political vendetta that once Mulayam Singh Yadav, the bete noire of Mayawati or the vice verse, switched over to Congress, Behenji is made to feel the heat. The so-sleepy Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), often dubbed as the political tool of the ruling party, has woken-up suddenly and is all set to chargesheet Mayawati in the disproportionate assets case.

The rescuer has to settle the score with Behenji, whose indignant remarks against Rahul Gandhi’s philanthropic adventure with Dalits irked Madam Sonia Gandhi as well. So has the rescued, and both perhaps are on an uneasy political turf, at least in UP. While the Congress writhes in pain for not being the sole messiah of the backward castes in India particularly in UP, the SP has been nursing grudge against BSP’s political ride when Mayawati returned to power with a thumping victory last year.

Just the other day, there were no takers of Mulayam Singh Yadav and his SP, but then his valuable 39 MPs put him as saviour. He is national news now. Dr. Manmohan Singh must have gained some of his sleeps that he had lost over the fortnight due to rock solid and adamant communist leaders led by Prakash Karat, but he has yet to prove the majority in the Parliament if he is to get a sound sleep over N-deal.

Coming to the CBI’s role and its use and abuse over the years, the less said the better. From Shibu Soren case in which due to weak chargesheet the court snubbed the agency to the current Aarushi murder case, the CBI has faced criticism for its partisan role. And every party in power has been accused of misusing the agency for its political purposes.

In the recent Mayawati case, all on a sudden the CBI is going to file an affidavit in the Supreme Court very soon and will tell court that it has robust evidence against the BSP chief to seek her prosecution. In response, Mayawati dubbed it as a "frame-up". While the CBI does not agree with Mayawati's argument that case needs should be closed, the UP chief minister argued that the issue of her allegedly having acquired assets disproportionate to legal sources of income was part of the Taj Heritage Corridor scam case, which was closed after UP governor, T V Rajeshwar, refused to sanction her prosecution.

According to reports, on the other hand, the CBI maintained that it had consistently treated the disproportionate assets case as separate from the Taj Heritage case, and has been filing separate status reports for the two since 2004. Dismissing YP chief minister’s charge that the UPA government was misusing the agency to destabilise her political career, the CBI has clarified that its action is solely guided by Section 173 of the CPC.

Now it is clear that Congress seems all set to go hand in hand with SP in the coming Lok Sabha elections, it has decided to distant itself from the BSP and its chief, and to gain upper hand it is trying to use CBI to irk Behenji. Her relationship with the Congress has been sour due to Rahul Gandhi’s growing likeness for the Dalits and his incessant campaign in UP that irk Mayawati, who smells that her vote bank is being eroded by the young Gandhi. That she has been able to contain both BJP and Congress in UP, she is still to outnumber SP, and with SP going to the Congress camp, she feels the political equation may go against her in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

No doubt, Mayawati has been in the news for allegedly acquiring assets through illegal means; she accuses the central government for disturbing her political life via FIRs by CBI whom she alleged to have become a tool in the hands of all political parties. In the coming days perhaps we will see more intensive drive against Mayawati through CBI.