Mayawati cries foul in assets case

NEW DELHI: Ahead of the scheduled hearing in the Supreme Court on Friday in the alleged Disproportionate Assets (DA) case, UP chief minister Mayawati has told the apex court that the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI) is adopting double yardstick against her.

In an affidavit filed on Wednesday, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo said the CBI was bound to apply the same principle which it had applied in the DA cases against Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad.

In their cases, the probing agency had closed investigations, acting on the basis of the findings of the income-tax authorities and advice of the central government’s law officers, said Mayawati, adding she had made a representation to the agency in this regard.

“It is really unfortunate that for no reasons whatsoever unless the intention is to continue to harass and defame me by prolonging the CBI proceedings for an indefinite period without any justification whatsoever, I am being discriminated in a hostile manner vis-a-vis Prasad and Yadav,” said Ms Mayawati.

It said “CBI is taking different yardsticks to look into my case vis-a-vis the case of the two leaders (Prasad and Yadav).” The chief minister, in the affidavit, said, even though her case was “much stronger” than that of Prasad and Yadav “no closure report has been filed as yet”. “CBI cannot discriminate between two individuals merely on the basis of its whims.”