BSP, Cong, AAP back Akhilesh amid reports CBI may quiz him in illegal mining case; agency claims he cleared 13 projects in 1 day

The BSP, the Congress and the AAP on Monday came out in support of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav amid reports the CBI may quiz him in an illegal mining case and accused the BJP-led NDA government of resorting to "vendetta politics".

The possiblity of the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) questioning their party supremo also irked the Samajwadi Party(SP) MPs in the Lok Sabha where they kicked up a ruckus and tore and flung papers at the Speaker's desk.

Facing flak, the CBI came out with details about the mining case in Uttar Pradesh with its officials claiming that the office of Yadav when he was the chief minister had cleared 13 projects in one single day.

The CBI claimed that Yadav, who also held the mining portfolio for some time, cleared 14 leases out of which 13 were approved on February 17, 2013 in violation of e-tendering process.

The CBI highlighted the role of Yadav after he accused the BJP government at the Centre of misusing the central probe agency for its political gains.

Ahead of a formal announcement of a pre-poll alliance with the SP, BSP chief Mayawati telephoned Yadav and extended her full support to him, telling him not to be shaken by any "gimmicks".

"Do not be shaken by such gimmicks," she told Yadav while dubbing any move by the CBI to quiz him as "political animosity" of the ruling BJP. The BSP chief also alleged that like the Congress, the 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 release said that Mayawati called up Yadav on Sunday and talked to him over the issue.

"The day news of the SP-BSP top leadership meeting came out, the BJP government used the CBI and raids were conducted in an old mining scam and the news of quizzing Akhilesh Yadav was deliberately spread. Is it not an action to defame the SP-BSP alliance?" Mayawati said.

Yadav may face a CBI probe in a case of illegal mining, according to the agency FIR made public Saturday, the day the SP and the BSP indicated their intent to join hands in Uttar Pradesh to fight the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. The agency had also carried out searches at 14 locations.

"If this CBI action is not a political conspiracy, then why did BJP leaders issue statements and why did a BJP leader and minister acted as CBI spokesperson?," Mayawati asked.

Claiming that she was "framed" in the Taj corridor case in 2003 when she did not agree to an alliance for the 2004 general elections, Mayawati said, "But later people took revenge and the BSP got absolute majority in the 2007 Assembly polls."