Mayawati rejects CBI probe into arson at UP Cong chief’s home

The Mayawati government on Tuesday finally rejected the Congress demand for a CBI inquiry into the arson at Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s house in Lucknow on July 15.

Parliamentary affairs minister Lalji Verma told the assembly that UP’s criminal investigation department (CID) was conducting a probe and there was no need for a CBI inquiry into the incident.

Joshi’s house had allegedly been set on fire by Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supporters after she made indiscreet comments against Mayawati.

At one point, chief minister Mayawati lost her temper when Congress members attacked the BSP on this issue in the assembly. “Congress should not forget what it did in 1984 (riots following Indira Gandhi’s assassination) and Samajwadi Party leaders were involved in the state guest house incident in 1995,” she retorted.

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari showed photographs of the attackers at Joshi’s house on the fateful day and thanked the media for exposing the guilty. He also displayed pictures that appeared in various newspapers which showed policemen outside Joshi’s house before it was torched. “It’s clear that this is a state-sponsored violence,” he said.

Additional cabinet secretary VS Pande later told reporters that the UP CID was competent enough to handle the case and there was no basis for recommending a CBI probe. He said the CBI had cited manpower problems and refused to accept most cases the state government referred to the central investigating agency in the past.