Chief Minister Mayawati’s letter to Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani — which the Government has refused to make public — attempts to put the onus for asking her party MLAs and MPs to contribute to the BSP coffers from their constituency development fund on her own partymen and the Samajwadi Party which, she says, inspired them. Virtually confirming the video of the February 2001 meeting that showed her asking for funds, Mayawati claimed the original tape was ‘‘doctored’’ because it did not give the context and deleted her comments criticising the practice. The Chief Minister met Advani today in New Delhi and reportedly reiterated her case and allegations against the SP. The burden of Mayawati’s song was that it was not she but her party workers — who in turn were inspired by the Samajwadi Party — who were behind the proposal. ‘‘At this meeting (shown on the tape) some party workers said that there is a practice in Samajwadi Party that their MLAs contribute Rs 1 lakh and MPs contribute Rs 2 lakh from the commission out of constituency funds towards the party fund.’’ ‘‘Our partymen suggested that perhaps even the MPs and MLAs of the Bahujan Samaj Party should also be directed to do so,’’ she explained. ‘‘In this context, I told my partymen that in my constituency, no one has the guts to ask for commission or give it but assured them that I will put their point of view in front of the MLAs and MPs and tell them that the partymen want the MLAs to give Rs 1 lakh and MPs Rs 2 lakh from their MPLADS to the party funds,’’ she stated. However, she said she criticised the practice in principle and claimed to have told her partymen that ‘‘I will also tell the MPs and MLAs that I am not in favour of this and I don’t want our people’s representatives to get into the commission matter and maintain high standards in doing development work.’’ ‘‘Because, honestly, if these funds are spent for the welfare of the people then their (MPs and MLAs) popularity will get enhanced and the party will get strengthened,’’ she wrote. ‘‘This statement of mine has been taken out of context and edited as part of a political conspiracy by the Samajwadi Party,’’ she said in the letter to Advani. ‘‘At the time, I was not even in power. It is almost one year since I have become Chief Minister but no one can accuse me of taking development funds of MLAs or MPs for the party.’’ She has a reason to offer why the tape was not made public before March 3. ‘‘Because on March 4, the Samajwadi Party had moved a no-confidence motion against Speaker Kesari Nath Tripathi and fearing that it would be defeated shamefully, they (SP) took it back. ‘‘To cover up their shame and to divert public attention, the Samajwadi Party released this tape, but hid the fact that it had nothing to do with my tenure as CM,’’ she stated. She wants the Samajwadi Party to either‘‘apologise to me in front of the nation’’ or ‘‘prove to the people’’ that she had ever diverted development funds for party use. In her letter, Mayawati repeated her allegation of Mulayam Singh Yadav misusing government funds for building a school in his father’s name in Etawah. She alleged that government funds were spent during Mulayam Singh’s tenure on fake institutions and schools. She has ordered a probe into the matter. She ends the letter saying, ‘‘I hope these facts present you with all aspects of this unnecessary controversy and in the appropriate forum enable you to relate the truth to people.’’
