CBI probe must to identify CM with ISI nexus: BJP

Lucknow: The BJP on Friday demanded a CBI probe to “identify” the chief minister and 12 MLAs of a northern Indian state referred to in a book by former Intelligence Bureau joint director MK Dhar as allegedly having links with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

“The officer had written that a chief minister and 12 MLAs of a northern Indian state have a nexus with Pakistan’s ISI,” Uttar Pradesh BJP president Kesri Nath Tripathi told the party’s state executive meet in Lucknow.

He demanded a CBI probe to identify those referred to in the book, Fulcrum of Evil: ISI-CIA-Al Qaida Nexus and alleged that due to the appeasement policy of the Samajwadi Party-led government, the state had become a “safe haven” for terrorists.

Tripathi claimed that whether it was the blasts in Varanasi’s Sankat Mochan temple or suburban trains in Mumbai, all had links in Uttar Pradesh.

He said Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had accepted in the Assembly that 34 districts were sensitive to terrorist activities and “giving a clean chit” to the Students Islamic Movement of India under such circumstances “could have serious repercussions”.

Tripathi accused both the SP and the Congress of “being communal”. He said the Congress was doing a headcount of Muslims in government jobs while SP was partial to groups like SIMI.

BJP vice-president Kalyan Singh and senior leaders Sanjay Joshi and Vinay Katiyar were among those who attended the meeting.