Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati has recommended a CBI probe into the alleged financial irregularities in the tender allotment of a Rs 1,100-crore power project started by the state’s then BJP government in 1992. The recommendation comes on the behest of BJP parliamentarian Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma. Giving a twist to the tale, the then Energy Minister Naresh Agarwal joined the BSP after the Mayawati government sent its recommendation to the Centre on March 3. The matter has cropped up at a time when rumours of BSP-BJP alliance are rife for the Lok Sabha polls. Verma, an MP from Jalaun constituency, said: “I am pursuing this matter since 1995, when the tender processing started, but the government officials tried their best to ignore the matter for reasons best known to them”. Verma has been pursuing the matter for long. His appeal for a CBI probe had been turned down by the BJP government in UP in 2000. Ram Prakash Gupta, who was chief minister at the time, had ordered a vigilance inquiry instead. According to official records, the project, prepared by UP Power Corporation Ltd, aimed at the construction of 800/400 KV Single Circuit Transmission Line — measuring 1,135 kilometre — connecting Anpara to Unnao and Unnao to Agra, besides three Sub Stations Unnao, Bareilly and Agra. Fully funded by Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) Japan, the project was to be completed by December 1996. Questions were raised over the global tender process carried out in 1994-95 and technical and financial irregularities in the tender allotment were pointed out. At the time, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was the chief minister, was also in charge of the Energy Department. The matter took a serious turn when the demand of CBI probe arose in 1997 and letters were sent to the then CM Kalyan Singh, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and energy minister PR Kumarmangalam. The matter reached the court in 1999, which directed the government to first order a probe by a senior officer and then refer the case to CBI if prima facie irregularities were found. Reacting to various complaints by many Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha members (most of them from the BJP) in 2000, prime minister Vajpayee wrote to chief minister Ram Prakash Gupta to recommend a CBI inquiry. But Gupta ordered a vigilance probe. His energy minister Naresh Agarwal claimed before the Legislative Assembly in 2001 that the matter did not come in the purview of CBI. Today, Agarwal — after moving from BJP to SP and now to BSP — refrained from saying anything. “The matter has been referred to the CBI. The inquiry will reveal who is guilty,” he said. In 2001, when Rajnath Singh was the chief minister, even the RSS regional pracharak Om Prakash had asked him to recommend a CBI inquiry. But now, Singh refuses to talk about the issue.“It is a state matter” and “as per party protocol”, he should not comment on state matters, he said. In fact, BJP governments successfully kept the matter on the backburner till Mayawati came to power in 2002 with BJP help.In September 2002, the NDA government at the Centre communicated to Mayawati that after a discussion with the previous state government and the CBI, it was felt that there was no need to go ahead with a CBI inquiry. In 2003, Mayawati wrote to the then home minister LK Advani, requesting him to issue instructions for a CBI inquiry. This led to a rift between the BSP and BJP. Mayawati resigned and Mulayam came to power with the silent support of the BJP. In September 2003, the NDA government communicated to the Mulayam-run state that there was no need to conduct a CBI inquiry into the case.
