Former UP minister alleges threat to life

Already embroiled in multiple controversies, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is now confronted with revolt from the most unexpected quarters.

Former cabinet minister Babu Singh Kushwaha, widely known as Mayawati's virtual bell-boy, is all set to now give sleepless nights to the state government.

Putting the entire government in the dock by shooting off a letter to none other than the chief minister, Kushwaha expressed threat to his life from another cabinet colleague and two top bureaucrats of the state. 

Very discreetly, copies of the letter have been marked to the prime minister, the UP governor, the Chief Justice of India, the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation director and the Union home secretary.

"The extent of animosity these three people bear against the applicant is so much that the applicant apprehends that they can conspire against him and threaten his life," says the letter.

While naming former cabinet colleague Naseemuddin Siddiqui as his main source of threat, he also accused the cabinet secretary and the state home secretary of conspiring against him.

"Ever since the applicant's resignation from the cabinet in April 2011, these powerful people in the government have teemed up against the applicant to settle their personal scores and the applicant apprehends that these three people could misuse their powerful posts and the official machinery to implicate the applicant, his relatives and supporters in false and fictitious cases," the letter adds.

Interestingly, Kushwaha makes it a point to acknowledge how he was handpicked as an ordinary party worker to be inducted into the state cabinet by Mayawati and entrusted with multiple portfolios, including Family Welfare.

It was the multi-crore scam of National Rural Health Mission funds under the state family welfare department, leading to murders of two chief medical officers, that prompted Kushwaha to resign from the council of ministers in April last.

His revolt follows the Allahabad High Court's order, issued earlier this week, for a CBI probe into the entire scam. Widely known to be neck-deep in the scam, Kushwaha's act of revolt is seen as a desperate bid to prepare his defence.

Flaying Kushwaha for taking the extreme step, state Bahujan Samaj Party spokesman Swami Prasad Maurya has pointedly blamed him for cooking up a fake story to evoke sympathy, as he appeared to be completely cornered.

"Besides the NRHM case, Kushwaha was also facing a probe by the Lokayukta who was looking into the alleged disproportionate assets amassed by him as a minister," Maurya has pointed out.

While advising Kushwaha to shun making wild allegations against his own colleagues, Maurya sought to warn him, "He should restrain himself from indulging in any such act that could annoy the party workers."