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Maya dares Cong to jail her

Lucknow, Mar 1 (UNI) On the day the Supreme Court ordered CBI to initiate prelimenary investigations against Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in disproportionate assets case, former Uttar Pradesh CM and BSP president Mayawati today dared Congress to jail her in the Taj Heritage Corridor (THC) case.

Addressing a 'Mahasankalp' rally here, Ms Mayawati said if Congress government at the Centre wanted to send her to jail ahead of the UP assembly poll, it was welcome to do so. ''They are welcome to jail me...I have no problems,'' she asserted.

She claimed when BJP was in power, it used its clout to harass her. ''Now Congress is in power. I want to tell its leaders that I am not scared of going to jail.'' The BSP president claimed an FIR was filed against officials in the THC scam and two FIRs were filed against her. ''It was a well-planned move to harass me,'' she added.

She said besides an FIR in THC scam, another FIR was filed in the disappropriate assets (DA) case. ''They calculated properties of my relatives as my personal property to make a case against me.'' The former CM also explained the THC project to the party workers who had gathered at the Ambedkar Maidan for the massive rally. ''The idea was to provide a congestion free road for local and international tourists who wanted to visit Taj Mahal.

''The central government and the UP government under me had planned the THC on the banks of Yamuna behind Taj Mahal...I was not directly concerned with the project as the then chief secretary (Devendra Singh Bagga) and central officials were involved.'' She also slammed the Opposition for using the media to feed misinformation on the project. ''The cost of the project was Rs 175 crore. Under my regime, only Rs 17 crore were released but it was made out that the scam was to the tune of Rs 175 crore.'' Ms Mayawati maintained whatever money she had was meant to fight the rich. ''The money is used for party work only,'' she asserted.

She asked the electorate to vote for the party at any cost.

''Be it rain or hailstorm...vote for BSP to remove the corrupt regime of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Whenever we have been attacked, we have bounced back and proved our strength,'' she added.

The BSP leader claimed if BSP returned to power, ''controversial politicians like Raghuraj Pratap Singh and Atiq Ahmed would run for cover like they did in the past.'' Referring to the party's performance in Uttarakhand and Punjab assembly elections, she said the party has once again proved it held a mass base beyond UP.

She also announced a compensation of Rs three lakh each for the kin of the three party workers, who died in a road accident here. She also announced compensation for the 10 others injured.

UNI

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