Coalition politics: Mayawati open to alliance with Cong

Coalition politics: Mayawati open to alliance with Cong

Friday, January 14, 2005 (New Delhi):

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati has indicated that she is open to the idea of an alliance with the Congress Party.

The statement came after the CBI decided to close one of the politically sensitive cases filed against the BSP supremo in the Rs 175 crore Taj Heritage Corridor scam.

"Attorney General Milon Banerjee very recently gave his opinion that the evidence so far collected by the agency against Mayawati in the scam was not fit to send the case for trial before the court and hence should be closed," indicated sources.

The curtains would also fall on the probe against Mayawati's then cabinet colleague Nasiuddin Siddiqui as the CBI has decided to close the case against him as well under similar circumstances.

Status report

As far back as October 25 last year, CBI had informed the Supreme Court about its inability to link the Taj Corridor Scam, which took place during her tenure as Chief Minister, to her disproportionate assets.

The Court had directed the CBI to file a status report on the Taj Heritage Corridor scam while asking the agency to independently probe the disproportionate assets case without coming back to the court periodically with a status report.

Future trouble

Mayawati however, is not completely out of trouble as the disproportionate assets case against her would continue.

The CBI, which has been carrying out investigations on the directions of the Supreme Court, had quizzed Mayawati last year about assets worth crores of Rupees recovered so far that allegedly belong to her. (With PTI inputs)

from ndtv.com