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| CBI probes speedier against Opp. politicians! | | Act of political benevolence haunts Maneka | |
B L KAK
NEW DELHI, AUG. 22: Maneka Gandhi has intensified her drive against her estranged sister-in-law, Sonia Gandhi. The former holds the latter responsible for filing of two cases by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against her (Maneka) for corruption and cheating.
As Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment during the NDA regime, Maneka Gandhi sanctioned funds to NGOs in her Parliamentary constituency. That act of political benevolence has come back to haunt her. She has been accused of abusing her official position in the NDA government to sanction funds for the Maneka Gandhi Kanya Inter-College School and the Sanjay Gandhi Nursing College in Uttar Pradesh’s Pilibhit for political gains.
Pilibhit is Maneka Gandhi's parliamentary constituency. CBI has also accused her of illegally giving grants to her own party workers. Vijay Kumar Gupta, a cinema hall owner in Pilibhit and an accused now, received Rs 15 lakh for the Maneka Gandhi Kanya Inter-College School. CBI says that the application was done on the basis of forged documents and locals say that the school was being used for other purposes as well and Gupta has made decent money from it.
"Most of the marriages here in Pilibihit are held in the Maneka Gandhi school," a local, Surender Pratap, has been quoted by a TV channel as saying. However, Maneka denies any financial irregularities. “ I was informed by the CBI that they were going to file the FIR as they were asked by Dr Manmohan Singh himself, who called a meeting and said that the UPA Chairperson wanted this done immediately,” Maneka says.
Maneka’s defence of a political vendetta against her would have been more credible but for a two-page report of a former district magistrate of Pilibhit. The report clearly shows that the school was not functional ever and had no students, teachers, and even classrooms when the funds were granted. Yet, the funds were let out by the Maulana Azad Education Foundation in total violation of the guidelines of the foundation and Maneka's son, Varun Gandhi, a BJP leader, inaugurated the school one year later.
In Pilibhit, Maneka Gandhi's close associate Gupta also shifts the blame to Delhi. “I am made to understand that the allegation has been made in Delhi,” he was reported to have told the TV channel. Maneka Gandhi says that for five years the CBI investigation found nothing.
However at that time she belonged to the ruling alliance for three of these five years and going by past records, CBI probes have often been speedier against Opposition politicians.
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