Lucknow: Soon after the High Court order staying her arrest in the Taj Heritage Corridor (THC) and disproportionate assets cases, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on October 22 alleged that she was falsely implicated in the case by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to "settle political scores".

"The THC case is politically motivated and the Central government is misusing CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) to malign me and my party," Mayawati said.

Accusing the BJP-led Central government of projecting the THC case as if she had misappropriated government funds, Mayawati said, "The fact is that the project was started during (BJP leader) Rajnath Singh's tenure and a decision to construct a corridor around Taj was taken at that time."

Pointing out that a Mission Management Board was constituted with Chief Secretary of the state as its chairman, Mayawati claimed the Chief Minister is neither a member of the Board nor associated with it in any way.

"Then how the CBI can accuse me in this case is not understandable," she said.

Attacking BJP, she said the central leadership of the saffron party would not succeed in its "nefarious designs".

"The CBI is persecuting my family members and party leaders in the name of THC ... what has my family members got to do with the case," she asked.

"In the disproportionate assets case, the CBI has exceeded its brief. The matter should have been referred to Income Tax department instead of CBI poking its nose," Mayawati said.

PTI