NEW DELHI, 9 October 2003 — Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati yesterday accused Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of deliberately targeting her after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided her properties.

The swoops on Mayawati’s properties here and in Uttar Pradesh came a day after the CBI charged her with corruption in a real estate project to build a Rs.1.75-billion shopping complex near the historic Taj Mahal in Agra in violation of environmental stipulations.

Claiming that the hard-earned money of the Indian public had gone into the pockets of a select few, Mayawati demanded Vajpayee should order a probe into allegations that his foster daughter Namita and her husband Ranjan Bhattacharya had amassed property in the country and abroad.

Visibly disturbed by the tightening of the investigative noose around her, Mayawati is banking on the political mileage she can extract by accusing the government of displaying a biased approach against her — a Dalit (outcaste Hindu).

“If I, a Dalit’s daughter, can be subject to inquiry and raids, why cannot Vajpayee’s foster daughter and his close relatives?” an outraged Mayawati asked at a press conference here yesterday.

“His (Vajpayee’s) foster daughter and her husband have amassed property worth millions in India and abroad. They are building a hotel in Nainital and another in Delhi. All this should be probed, there should be raids on these properties,” she said.

Luck turned its back on Mayawati on July 17, when the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to probe irregularities in the Taj heritage project. The scandal forced Mayawati to stand down as Uttar Pradesh chief minister on Aug. 26. On Sept. 18 the Supreme Court ordered the CBI to register criminal charges against her, then Environment Secretary Naseemuddin Siddiqui and six top bureaucrats for irregularities and malpractice.

Asserting her innocence, Mayawati accused Vajpayee of directing the CBI to harass her and her party. “All this is being done to create political pressure and tarnish her party’s image at the behest of the prime minister,” she charged.

Thundering that Vajpayee will regret for having drawn swords with her, she said, “I will see how the BJP gets an absolute majority (in next year’s general election) and how Vajpayee becomes prime minister again.”

Mayawati accused the government of misusing the CBI to settle political scores.

Mayawati accused the prime minister of displaying a caste-bias against her. “They (the CBI) even raided my old parents’ home. These raids have exposed the Vajpayee government’s anti-Dalit and pro-Brahmin attitude,” she said.

Among the places raided yesterday were Mayawati’s residence in Delhi and her properties in Lucknow, Bulandshahr and Khurja in Uttar Pradesh, CBI officials said.

She claimed to have pleaded with CBI sleuths not to seize Rs. 550,000 found at one of her properties as the money was collected by BSP workers to pay for the treatment of ailing party chief Kanshi Ram.

Meanwhile, the CBI denied that the agency was working under any political pressure. “We are only doing our job,” said an officer.