Graft cases cast shadow on SP, BSP poll alliance

Lucknow: With chances of a grand alliance in UP between the SP and BSP getting increasingly dim, leaders of both parties feel that complaints related to alleged financial wrongdoings against their own leaders could queer the pitch.

A senior BSP leader, who recently joined the SP admitted, “There is no denying the fact that both, the SP and BSP, leaders are presently under tremendous strain and the alliance is not on their priority list. If the cases against them are pursued further, it could jeopardise the chances of alliance.”

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav is facing turbulent weather after a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report indicted the involvement of his government in a Rs 97,000-crore scam.

According to a CAG audit, the mandatory utilisation certificates of work done between 2014 and 2017, involving Rs 97,000 crore, are missing.This amount was spent on 2.5 lakh works and projects, sources said.

Most of the cases rel-ate to the departments of social welfare, panchayati raj and education n which more than Rs 26,000 crore was spent, but there is no certification of the works done.

As far as the BSP is concerned, its chief Mayawati is also in trouble, The Allahabad HC recently sought a status re-port from the state government on the probe into the Rs 1,400-crore scam in memorials built during the BSP regime.

The probe is being conducted by the vigilance department. A bench comprising Chief Justice D.B. Bhonsle and Justice Yashwant Verma has given the state government one week’s time to present the progress report in the matter in which the Lokayukta had inferred large-scale financial irregularities and corruption.

Former Lokayukta N.K. Mehrotra, in his 88 page report, had pointed towards major financial irregularities in the construction of Ambedkar Smarak Parivartan Sthal, Manyavar Kanshiram Smarak Sthal, Eco Park, Gautam Buddha Upwan, Ramabai Ambedkar grounds and Smirit Upwan in the state capital Lucknow and the Ambedkar park built in Noida.

What could further add to Ms Mayawati woes in this matter is the fact that the two other accused in the scam –Babu Singh Khushwaha and Naseemuddin Siddiqui—have left the BSP and are now firmly ranged against Ms Mayawati.

Moreover, a dozen legislators and more than 100 engineers and government employees, officers of the Noida Authority, Rajkiya Nirman Nigam and the Public Works Department (PWD) have been made accused in the scam and their loyalties have obviously changed with the change in government in the state.

With both the leaders caught in a web of their own making, the BJP is apparently preparing to use these corruption issues against SP and BSP in the upcoming elections—more so because the issues have been raised by constitutional authorities like Lokayukta, CAG and the judiciary.

“They should have cleaned the bench before sitting on it. An alliance between SP-BSP would not be seen as an alliance of corrupt forces”, remarked a senior BJP leader.