Mulayam Responsible For Violence, Says Mayawati

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati yesterday launched a direct attack on Samajwai Party leader and Union defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, blaming him for the series of murder incidents since the formation of her government.

She said Mulayam Singh has to be blamed for two reasons. Firstly, he has been Chief Minister twice and he could not do anything to nab the criminal gangs. Secondly,she said, he gave the criminals encouragement. The June 2 incident of state guest house is a good example, she pointed out.

She described these incidents as gang warfare. They were not communal in nature.

The most serious among the incidents was the one in Varanasi, where four persons of the SP were gunned down using AK 47 rifles. One of them, the newly elected president of Kashi Vidyapeeth students union, had no previous criminal record. The other three had criminal histories. The killings followed a series of murders in the state where both BSP and SP cadre have been killed.

Mayawati, while describing the Varanasi incident, defensively admitted that the killers had no intention of killing the president. But, she said, Mulayam Singh was responsible for the violence.

She announced a series of steps to tighten the law and order, which involves widescale arrest of suspects and the history sheeters. The police has been given a blanket order on this. The state governments in UP have given such orders earlier, too, but they have mostly been misused and most of the arrested have been innocents.

When asked what action she planned to take against Mulayam, whom she has blamed for most of the incidents, she said action can be taken at least against those who have been propped up by him. Mayawati's attack on Mulayam has come in the wake of the latter's attack on the government, in which he had said all the goons had joined the BSP and the BJP.

Most UF partners have also followed Mulayam's lead in blaming the new government. The CPI(M) has declared that there is jungle raj in the state.