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Posted on 28 November 2011 |
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| CURRENT AFFAIRS |
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UTTAR PRADESH |
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Mayawati shows Kushwaha the door for 'anti-party' activities
CM’s former confidant had alleged threat to life from senior minister and two bureaucrats
Virendra Nath Bhatt
Lucknow
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Former BSP minister and General Secretary Babu Singh Kushwaha |
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The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) finally expelled its rebel leader Babu Singh Kushwaha on Monday. Political parties usually expel a leader for six years, but the BSP has expelled Kushwaha permanently. On 26 November, the state government had issued him a notice for vacating the official bungalow allotted to him in his capacity as minister.
The former Family Welfare minister was once a close confidant of party chief ad Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati. He is a second-term BSP MLC—a member of the upper House of UP Legislature. His term ends on 5 May next year.
Sources in the BSP said the party had taken the extreme step of expelling Kushwaha from the party as a pre-emptive exercise. His party colleagues suspect Kushwaha of having close contacts with rivals of the ruling party in UP.
Kushwaha had resigned from the Cabinet on 7 April on “moral grounds” for his alleged involvement in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scam and the death of three medial officers. He shot off a letter to Mayawati on 19 November alleging threat to his life from senior minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui, Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh and Principal Secretary Home Fateh Bahadur Singh. He also sent a copy of the letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The BSP had then dismissed the allegations of Kushwaha as “the outburst of a frustrated person”.
Incidentally, both Kushwaha and Siddiqui hail from Banda district of Bundelkhand region, are members of the Legislative Council, and have never contested Assembly elections. Siddiqui’s wife Husna is also a BSP MLC. Another BSP leader from Bundelkhand, MLA from Banda district Puroshattam Dwivedi, is in jail since last December on charges of rape.
Defending the action against Kushwaha, BSP charged that “ever since the CBI has taken over the investigations into the killing of three medical officers and probing the national Rural Health Mission scam, Kushwaha is in close contact with the Congress to save his skin”. The party added: “With the noose tightening around his neck, he is hatching conspiracy against the party with assistance from opposition parties.”
In a statement, BSP leader and Minister for Panchayatiraj Swami Prasad Maurya said, “Ever since the state government handed over the investigation into the murder of three medical officers to the CBI on the demand of the family members of the doctors and opposition parties, Kushwaha started anti-party activities and even instigated fellow members from his caste to damage the BSP.”
Listing the favours granted by the party to Kushwaha, Maurya, said “Kushwaha never had the guts to contest the Assembly election. Yet the party granted his request and got him elected as a member of the Upper House twice. Kushwaha was made a minister after he assured the BSP to bring voters from his community into the party fold. He was allotted the portfolio of Family Welfare so that he could serve the poor, dalits, OBCs and disadvantaged sections of society.”
Maurya added, “The party regrets that Kushwaha failed to discharge his duties in a dignified manner resulting in the killing of three medical officers during his tenure. To prevent further damage to the image of the party and the government, he was asked to resign and the portfolio was allotted to Naseemuddin Siddiqui.”
Kushwaha was a close confidant of Mayawati and worked as her private secretary for over a decade. He resigned after Deputy Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Lucknow VK Sachan allegedly committed suicide in jail in April. Sachan was arrested in connection with the murder of CMOs VP Singh in October 2010 and Vinod Arya in January. All the three medical officers, who worked for the NRHM, were killed allegedly in connection with the scam in project, currently being investigated by the CBI. Kushwaha is said to be the key suspect behind the NRHM scam and the death of the three officials. Along with Kushwaha, Minister for Medical and Health Anant Mishra quit on the same date owing moral responsibility for the deaths.
The CBI concluded that Sachan was murdered though the UP government claimed he had committed suicide. The CBI, which was probing the NRHM scam in Lucknow district only, has now been directed by the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court to probe the “loot of public money” in all the 75 districts of the state. The High Court issued the direction on 14 November after a PIL requesting for a statewide probe into the scam was filed.
On the directions of the High Court, the Comptroller and Auditor General is conducting a special audit into alleged financial irregularities in purchase of medical equipment, construction of primary health centres and other construction works in district hospitals for augmenting the existing infrastructure.
virendranathbhatt@gmail.com
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