Mayawati tells Akhilesh Yadav to fight against BJP's political conspiracies

Lucknow, Jan 7: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati Sunday called up former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav after CBI raided SP, BSP MLAs residences.

According to news agency ANI, Mayawati told Akhilesh that these raids by BJP are nothing new and are their old political tactic which people now understand. She urged Alhikesh to fight against this political conspiracies.

"Do not be shaken by such gimmicks," she told Yadav while terming the reports as "political animosity" of the ruling BJP. The BSP chief also alleged that like the Congress, the ruling BJP was "misusing" the government machinery to "trap" its opponents in false cases.

"The CBI raids and later the threat of quizzing by the CBI in a mining scam is nothing but political animosity of the BJP. Such petty politics and political conspiracy are not new for the BJP. The people of the country have understood it and they will teach the BJP a lesson in the Lok Sabha polls," she said in a press release.

The raids were carried out as the Samajwadi Party and the BSP decided to fight the upcoming national elections together. Both parties have already worked out a seat-sharing arrangement to take on the BJP, which along with its allies won 73 seats from the state in 2014.

Yadav declined to elaborate further, leaving the opposition parties guessing on whether the Congress will be accommodated.

Yadav suggested the raids by the CBI by opening up old cases were an attempt by the BJP-led Centre to stop the SP-BSP alliance. The two parties along with the RLD are close to formally announcing an alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

The CBI registered an FIR against 2008-batch IAS official and then Hamirpur District Magistrate B. Chandralekha and 10 other individuals in illegal mining case, besides unknown officials and persons. Among those named in the FIR are SP MLC Ramesh Kumar Mishra and Sanjay Dixit, who fought the 2017 election on Bahujan Samaj Party ticket.

(With PTI inputs)