Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday didn’t appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning as a witness in a five-year-old illegal mining case, saying that the probe agency acts as a cell of the BJP.

Read here: SP, Congress assail BJP over CBI notice to Akhilesh

The SP chief sent a reply to the CBI through a lawyer explaining his inability to appear in person because of the preparations for the upcoming parliamentary polls but assured all the help and coordination to the probe agency in the investigation.

While speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of the PDA conference in Lucknow, Yadav said that such summons prove that the CBI is nothing but a wing of the BJP. He said, “Summons before elections… they (CBI) act as ‘prakoshth’ (cell) of the BJP.” “Jo kagaz aaya tha, humne uska jawab de diya hai” (I have given a reply to the paper that I got), he added.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said that the upcoming Lok Sabha election is a battle between those “who want to save the democracy and constitution and those who are hell-bent on destroying the nation.”

“Those who used to raise slogans of zero tolerance, today when it comes to corruption, law and order their tolerance is absolutely ‘zero.’ The double-engine government showed dreams of investment in the Defence sector, meetings were held with top industrialists. Even after the ground-breaking ceremony, the ground reality is different, ” he said.

He earlier attacked the BJP on the CBI summons saying, “The SP is on the maximum target (of the BJP). In 2019, I got a notice in some matters as there were Lok Sabha elections then. Now, when the election is approaching again, I am getting a notice again. I know, when the election comes, notice will also come. Why this nervousness? If you (BJP) have done a lot of work in the past 10 years, why are you nervous?” he said.

Read here: CBI summon Akhilesh as witness in 2019 mining case

Reacting on the SP MLAs who cross-voted for the BJP candidates in the recently held Rajya Sabha polls, Yadav said the BJP is at its weakest it is constantly in a bid to poach the other party’s legislators for grabbing power.

“BJP is at its weakest now. You can buy MLAs, but you can’t buy janata,” he said.

The SP chief was issued a notice under section 160 of CrPC, where the probe agency had asked Yadav to appear before it on Thursday.

The case pertains to the issuance of mining leases in alleged violation of the e-tendering process. The Allahabad High Court had ordered the probe. It was alleged that public servants allowed illegal mining during 2012-16, the period when Yadav was chief minister, and illegally renewed licences despite a ban on mining by the National Green Tribunal.

(With bureau, agency inputs)