PM Narendra Modi, CBI have close relationship: Congress on Mayawati charges

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CBI have a very close relationship "like tota-maina", Congress today said, targeting the government over alleged "misuse" of the premier investigative agency against its detractors.

"CBI and Narendra Modi's relationship is like (that of) tota-maina," Congress chief spokesman Randeep Surjewala said.

He was reacting to BSP supremo Mayawati's charge that the BJP-led government was "misusing" CBI to target her after the agency decided to question her on the multi-crore NRHM scam in Uttar Pradesh nearly four years after it surfaced.

Mayawati, a former Uttar Pradesh chief minister, claimed that she had no connection with the scam and that the Centre was misusing CBI ahead of Bihar elections for political gains.

At the Congress briefing, Surjewala said CBI is "misused" by Modi for vendetta against his political detractors and that the agency was used to "settle personal scores" against senior Congress leader Shankersinh Vaghela in Gujarat.

The CBI was also "used" to target senior Congress leader and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Surjewala said.

The Congress spokesperson also targeted RSS over former Intelligence Bureau chief T V Rajeshwar's claim that the Hindutva organisation had supported Emergency and that the then Sangh chief Balasaheb Deoras had tried to establish contact with Indira Gandhi. He also charged BJP and RSS with changing colours like a "chameleon".