 "Akhilesh Yadav")
BJP today termed as "eyewash" the decision of UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to sack two ministers facing corruption charges, saying they were made "scapegoats" after the High Court ordered a CBI probe into the alleged mining scandal as his family is behind this "loot".
BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma told a press conference that the decision was aimed at publicity in the media after the Samajwadi Party government "looted" the state for five years and proved to be a "failure on all fronts".
The two sacked ministers, Gayatri Prajapati and Rajkishore Singh, collected money and were close to the Chief Minister, he alleged, saying Yadav protected Prajapati for close to two years after the Lokayukta had recommended his dismissal and a criminal probe against him.
"Akhilesh Yadav protected him all this while. Now the High Court has been firm and ordered a CBI probe into the mining scandal. He has been trapped now. Prajapati has been made a scapegoat... Your (Yadav) whole family is behind this. To save them, you have sacked him. It is just an eyewash," he said.
Quoting the HC order, he said it had rejected the government's contention that a CBI probe was not required and observed that "those in the government also seemed to be involved in this". If Yadav has any sense of morality, he should resign, Sharma demanded.
"After looting the state for five years the Chief Minister is doing it for publicity in TV and radio. It will be an unsuccessful attempt to cover up the failure of corrupt government under which crime ruled the roost and education, health and road sectors collapsed," he said.
Sharma claimed people have made up their mind to vote out the SP government and they will vote for BJP in the name of "good governance and development".
People are disenchanted with the troika of SP, BSP and Congress and will vote for the saffron party, he claimed.
Sharma also targeted Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, questioning his "silence" on the row over the donation of Rs 50 lakh to Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust by controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's NGO.
"If he has any shame, then he should answer it. What is this happening," he said.
Referring to Congress' General Secretary Digvijay Singh's earlier comments that Naik was a "messenger of peace", he said it appears as if Singh was giving "commendation certificate" to him in lieu of Rs 50 lakh.
It is an insult to the sacrifices made by people for this country, he claimed.
To a question over political developments in Bihar, he said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had turned into "kushashan babu" (Mr Mis-governance) from "shushan babu" (Mr good governance).
Lalu Prasad, a rival-turned-ally of Kumar, had said about him that he had "betrayed" everybody close to him and now he was betraying the people of Bihar, Sharma alleged as he targeted Kumar over the release of gangster-turned-politician Mohammad Shahabuddin.
