Training her guns at the Central Bureau of Investigation, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati claimed in the Supreme Court that the disproportionate assets case filed against her was untenable on Wednesday.
"The case of disproportionate assets made out against me was baseless, unfounded and illegal, and initiated by the Congress-led Union government solely with the intent of settling political scores," Mayawati has pointed out in a 250-page affidavit submitted before the apex court.
The strongly argued affidavit alleges, "obvious political motivations have led the CBI to adopt double standards in dealing with identical DA (disproportionate assets) cases against me and those against (Samajwadi Party leader) Mulayam Singh Yadav and (former railway minister) Lalu Prasad Yadav."
The Taj Corridor case, involving alleged plans of building a giant commercial hub on the other bank of the Yamuna river in the backdrop of the 17th century monumental wonder Taj Mahal, gave birth to the charge of disproportionate assets held by Mayawati.
It was during the course of the investigations in 2002 that the CBI decided to register a disproportionate assets case against Mayawati, her then environment minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui, then UP chief secretary D S Bagga and environment secretary R K Sharma, besides a few Union government officials.
After the state government denied permission to initiate prosecution proceedings against the bureaucrats involved, the then UP governor T V Rajeshwar too turned down sanction for Mayawati's prosecution, following which the CBI lodged a case of disproportionate assets registered against her.
While the CBI had all along maintained that the DA case was lodged after the revelation of the huge assets held by her, Mayawati has now vehemently refuted that claim in her affidavit.
"The Supreme Court did not pass any order to lodge a FIR in the DA case against me; the order pertained only to the Taj Corridor case," she said.
She also pointed out that the apex court had already de-linked the assets case from the main Taj Corridor case.
"The apex court also did not find anything wrong with the utilisation of Rs.17 crore disbursed by the state government in the name of the Taj Corridor," she said, while questioning the basis of the assets case.
According to Mayawati, "while the CBI was particular about seeking legal examination of the charges against Lalu Prasad Yadav, following which prosecution proceedings were dropped against him, the investigating agency chose to proceed directly against me by lodging a FIR".
Citing a similar case against Mulayam Singh Yadav, she said: "After seeking the then solicitor general's advice, the CBI did not club the income of Mulayam's family members. But in my case, the incomes of all my close relatives was clubbed and shown as my income."
Mayawati also wondered why legal opinion was not sought in her case, especially since "that very solicitor general Ghulam Vanhavati was now occupying the coveted position of attorney general".
She also drew the attention of the apex court to the "clean chit" given to her by the income tax authorities, with whom she had been regularly filing her returns.
"Both the chief commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) as well as the Income Tax appellate tribunal did not find any discrepancy with my returns and upheld my entire income, which also included gifts from my supporters," Mayawati pointed out, arguing that "as such, the CBI was clearly over-stepping its authority to dispute the legitimacy of such income that was duly accepted by the IT department".
Citing a long list of judgments in support of her contentions, she added that the CBI was bound by the findings of the income tax authorities.
She therefore sought the apex court's intervention for "closure" of what she termed as the "bogus disproportionate assets case".
