Culture of vendetta will boomerang on BJP: Akhilesh Yadav

LUCKNOW: A day after the CBI conducted multiple raids across UP and Delhi as part of a probe into the sand mining scam, triggering the possibility of the agency questioning SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, the former UP chief minister on Sunday accused the BJP of starting a culture of vendetta and warned that it could be "at the receiving end one day".


" Jo sanskriti inhone (BJP) shuru ki hai, uska saamna inhen khud bhi karna padh sakta ha," Yadav said, referring to a possible power shift. "If they (BJP) have CBI, we have the gathbandhan (alliance)," he said. Facing the possibility of being summoned by the CBI in the sand mining scam, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav said confronting sleuths was not new for him.

"Earlier, Congress unleashed CBI on me and now BJP is doing the same. I am ready to respond to all queries by the agency, but BJP should also be prepared to respond to questions by people on farmers' suicide and rising unemployment," he said.

SP chief: Let CBI do its job, we’ll focus on tie-up

“BJP will use every ammunition at their disposal before the LS elections — be it CBI or money power, but SP and BSP will focus on consolidating the alliance and winning maximum seats,” he said.

CBI had conducted the raids to probe illegal sand mining contracts in six UP districts on Saturday.

Sources in the agency told TOI that among other leaders, Akhilesh, who held the additional portfolio of mining in 2012-13 during his tenure as CM, was also under the scanner. The sources said that Akhilesh might be questioned in the case along with Gayatri Prajapati (now in Lucknow jail in a rape case), who also held the portfolio during the SP regime.

The SP chief said “it’s the people and not the CBI that vote during elections”. This includes farmers, jobless youths and the poor, he added. He said if people have decided to send BJP out of power, CBI will not be able to stop them.

When asked on the seat-sharing formula between SP and BSP, Akhilesh said in a lighter vein: “Don’t get into the numbers game else we will have to tell CBI as well about who will contest on how many seats.”