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Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader and former chief minister Mayawati's alleged involvement in a couple of multi-million scams would not pose a hurdle in her becoming the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for the third time.
This clarification has come from none other than Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri.
"Charges may be levelled against anyone, but these require to be proved. Only if the person is found guilty can he/she be prevented from holding a public office," Shastri told rediff.com.
The demand to disallow Mayawati from becoming the chief minister of India's most populous state was raised by state Samajwadi Party chief Ram Saran Das, who had also met the Governor in this regard.
Mayawati has been accused of malpractices and involvement in several scams during her two brief stints as chief minister (four months and six months, respectively). The Rs one billion (Rs 100 crore) Ambedkar Park and Rs 400 million (Rs 40 crore) float pump scams are the most infamous ones.
In the first one, Mayawati, some BJP leaders and government officials have been accused of pocketing a large part of the Rs one billion special grant towards the creation of a park in the name of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar.
A high-level probe by senior IAS officer T George Joseph, better known as among UP's few crusaders against corruption, is understood to have indicted both Mayawati as well as then BJP ministers Lalji Tandon and Kalraj Misra in the scam.
Predictably, the government decided to ignore the recommendations of the inquiry report and, as if to add insult to injury, additional grants were released when Rajnath Singh was the chief minister to complete the remaining part of what was termed as Mayawati's 'dream project'.
In the float pumps scam, Mayawati faces charges of misappropriation of public money during the purchase of float pumps for the fire brigade services in the state.
The CBI had probed the matter, but was denied permission by the state government to prosecute the accused.
Mayawati had also been accused of running a 'transfer-posting industry' with huge amounts of money exchanging hands in return for favourable transfers and postings.
However, the BJP leadership preferred to ignore her past record in these matters while entering into talks for an alliance with the BSP. In the event of the alliance materialising, Mayawati is certain to become the next chief minister of the state.
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