Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan on Sunday, January 6 condemned the CBI raids targeting Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as ‘malafide’ and an ‘abuse’ of the agency.
He wrote on twitter that the object of the raids is to stop Yadav from allying with Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati for the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Bhushan said that the raids will backfire as it would anger voters and unite the opposition further.
The CBI raids targeting Akhilesh Yadav in UP mining case at this stage is clearly malafide & an abuse of the CBI. It’s only object is to coerce Akhilesh and Mayawati not to come together for 2019. It will backfire. It will consolidate the opposition further & further anger voters
— Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) January 6, 2019
The SP and the BSP have decided to fight the upcoming national elections together and have already worked out a seat sharing arrangement to take on the BJP, which along with its allies won 73 seats from the state in 2014.
Yadav may face a probe by the CBI, according to the agency FIR made public Saturday, the day arch rivals SP and BSP indicated their intent to join hands. The agency also raided 14 locations in connection with the FIR against 11 persons to probe alleged illegal mining of minor minerals in Hamirpur district during 2012-16.
“Why is the CBI conducting raids. Whatever they want to ask, they can ask me. However, the BJP should remember that the culture it is leaving behind, it may have to face it in the future,” Yadav had told PTI.
Also Read: Ready to Face CBI: Akhilesh Yadav on Illegal Mining Case
(With PTI inputs)