Just a day after sacked Uttar Pradesh family welfare minister Babu Singh Kushwaha joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday searched his Lucknow residence as part of raids at 60 places in Uttar Prdesh, Delhi and Haryana in the massive scam to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore granted to the state under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).

A red-faced BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told a hurriedly called press conference here that the party sees hand of the ruling Congress in the CBI action but all the same it won't oppose raids since it believes in action against the guilty. "BJP is not a security cover for corruption," he added.

The party is already embarrassed since only four days ago its secretary Kirit Somaiya had released a report on the NRHM scam, releasing a list of medical firms floated by Kushwaha's family to siphon off the mission funds. Still no decision is taken on the BJP ticket to him alike two other sacked BSP ministers accommodated Monday night, but Naqvi made it clear that he continues in the party.

He was obviously inducted in the party to take advantage of the fact that the Kushwaha community has almost four percent votes in Uttar Pradesh. He can also give out many secrets of Mayawati as he was her confident until sacked, so much so that once she said he would be the acting chief minister if she were arrested in "bogus" cases being piled up against her. Four former BSP ministers have been quickly inducted in the party to take advantage of the backward communities they represent.

Naqvi alleged that there was a secret deal between the Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, under which she was sacking the ministers and then the Congress was leting loose the CBI on them.

Replying to the charge of action against Kushwaha only after he joined the BJP, a CBI spokesperson said the agency had registered five new cases on Monday itself when he was not yet a BJP member and secured search warrants from a Lucknow court. He has been named as an accused in one of the five FIRs. The agency had interrogated him earlier also, the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the CBI cannot put on hold investigations and searches just because of the assembly elections since it is not governed by the model code of conduct for elections and moreover it is acting on the November 15 direction of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court to complete the probe into the alleged irregularities in utilisation of some Rs 10,000 crore allotted since 2005 for the NHHM projects.

The funds were spent through CMOs of 72 Districts in UP and other nodal offices all over the state on family welfare, medical health, training and so on under the various central schemes. The NRHM scam saw in its wake murder of two CMOs and a deputy CMO and the CBI suspects Kushwaha had a hand in it. An additional director of CBI from Delhi is heading the investigations.

Here are the earlier PTI reports:

BJP not to give ticket to tainted former UP Minister Khushwaha

New Delhi, Jan 4 (PTI) An apparently embarrassed BJP today said it will not give ticket to tainted former Uttar Pradesh Minister Babu Singh Khushwaha, against whom CBI conducted raids today in the NRHM scam case, and made it clear that he will not be its star campaigner.

The party's announcement came at a press conference amidst reports that senior leaders including L K Advani had expressed unhappiness over the induction of Khushwaha, an OBC leader who was sacked by Chief Minister Mayawati at the height of the scam and was expelled from the party in November.

Sources said senior leaders were upset over Khushwaha's induction and felt it could have been avoided. However, the party decided to go on the offensive instead of repeating a D P Yadav-like episode when it admitted the Western UP leader ahead of the 2004 elections only to remove him within days.

During his tenure as state Family Welfare Minister two chief medical officers were murdered, a deputy CMO died mysteriously in Jail and fraud worth thousands of crores was detected in the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission in Uttar Pradesh.

"We induct various people into the party ahead of elections. It is not necessary we give them a ticket. In this case, the party is not considering granting him a ticket," said BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

He faced a barrage of questions on the admission of Khushwaha into the party yesterday alongwith another former minister Badshah Singh, who was also sacked by Mayawati in October after he was indicted by Lokayukta N K Mehrotra in a land grab case.

To a question, Naqvi dismissed the possibility of BJP making Khushwaha a star campaigner in the forthcoming assembly elections in the state.

In reply to another question whether leaders like Advani were unhappy over his induction, he said "the decision was taken jointly and the party is together on the issue."

As it came under attack from rivals for inducting him, the party put up a brave face and attacked the Congress for "selection action" in corruption case and accused the UPA government of being "hand-in-glove" with BSP in "misusing" the CBI for political ends.

"Congress and BSP have entered into a dangerous alliance in Uttar Pradesh and it has been scripted by Rahul Gandhi and Digvijay Singh personally...The BSP and Congress have entered into a mega deal," Naqvi said.

Maintaining that those who are accused of any crime must be punished, he sought to raise the issues of Taj Corridor, Adarsh housing, 2G and others scams and said these issues were either sorted out by the CBI or the agency decided to put them on hold.

"We would like to ask the government as why the CBI became so active on this case so suddenly... We will like to ask the central government on the action taken by CBI in Taj Corridor, 2G, Adarsh housing society scam and other cases in which not even FIRs have been registered by it," he said.

Naqvi said BJP is not trying to shield any accused but would like to question the government's intention in this case, saying that no action was being taken against kingpins in the case.

When asked whether BJP has not become impure by joining of Khushwaha, he said, "Ganga will be cleaned through a cleansing campaign".

CBI raids 60 places

[PTI] CBI on Wednesday morning carried out searches at more than 60 places, including at the residence of former UP family welfare minister Babu Singh Kushwaha in Lucknow, after registering five new cases to probe alleged irregularities in funds allocated to the National Rural Health Mission.

Besides Uttar Pradesh, the searches were being carried out at other places including Delhi and Haryana.

Official sources said the cases were registered on January two in a designated court at Lucknow after which CBI sought search warrants against the accused people.

Also read: Cong slams BJP for inducting Kushwaha

The searches began this morning at 60 places including at the residence of the former minister, who joined BJP on Tuesday after being sacked by UP chief minister Mayawati.

The CBI had filed FIRs pertaining to the scam. Kushwaha has been named as an accused in one of the five FIRs registered against the NRHM officials and private companies in UP.