Cops debunk Mayawati, Mulayam death fears
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and his predecessor Mayawati have nothing to fear except their own paranoia.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and his predecessor Mayawati have nothing to fear except their own paranoia. There's no assassin stalking the corridors of power, claim intelligence sources.
Just days ago the BSP supremo had sensationally accused the state government of hatching a plot to eliminate her in a bid to end the "increasing mass base of the BSP." The ruling Samajwadi Party in turn 'revealed' that former BSP ministers Nasimuddin Siddiqui and Babu Singh Kushwaha had plans to get Mulayam killed.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a top police official says neither he nor anyone else in Lucknow is willing to buy the conspiracy theories. According to him, both Yadav and Mayawati are among the few VVIPs who enjoy ironclad security cover. While the present UP chief minister is the "third most well protected" political figure after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and J&K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, Mayawati is the "sixth most protected" politician in the country.
The Dalit leader's security fears may be nothing more than political posturing, says the official. "Mayawati has been given the best protection among all ex-chief ministers. Her paranoia is politically motivated. She was paranoid even as chief minister. Special domed-cameras were installed at her official residence on 5, Kalidas Marg in Lucknow and the adjacent road was closed to general public - all quite unnecessarily," he asserts.
Meanwhile the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court has granted anticipatory bail to Siddiqui and Kushwaha. Kanpur-based mafia don Afzaal had reportedly made a statement that the duo hired him to assassinate Mulayam Singh Yadav and other senior Samajwadi Party leaders.
The former BSP ministers subsequently pleaded with the court to direct the government to initiate either a judicial or CBI probe into the matter.
The High Court has fixed September 14 as the date for the next hearing and asked the Mulayam Singh government to order a CBI probe.
