Mulayam accuses Mayawati govt of witch-hunting

Lucknow, Sep 14 (UNI) Samajwadi Party (SD) supremo and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav today accused the Mayawati-led government of witch-hunting, claiming fabricated cases were registered against almost 8,500 party leaders and activists.

Mr Yadav said these ''fake cases'' were registered under a special drive launched by the state government.

The only motive for this exercise was political vendetta, he alleged.

Almost 9,100 cases were registered under the special drive, of which about 8,500 ''fake'' cases were registered against SP leader and actitists, he asserted.

Mr Yadav also released a list containing the names of those SP leaders, who had been ''falsely implicated.'' The victimised top SP leaders include, former UP ministers Shivpal Singh Yadav, Mohd Azam Khan and Ambika Chaudhary.

Rajaram Pandey and Rajya Sabha members Akhilesh Singh Yadav Bhagwati Singh were some other leaders on the list.

UNI