Thursday, May 12 2005 14:24 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) today (May 12, 2005) authorised Mayawati to take "any appropriate decision" on continuing support to Congress-led coalition.

In an apparent bid to build pressure on United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government following CBI questioning of party chief Mayawati in the Taj Corridor scam, BSP authorised her to take "any appropriate decision" on continuing support to Congress-led coalition and said it would "expose the double standards" of the probe agency inside and outside Parliament.

A meeting of the BSP Parliamentary Party at Mayawati's residence in New Delhi also supported former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister's decision to write to President A P J Abdul Kalam on the issue.

"The MPs condemned the double standards being adopted against (me) by the CBI during the rule of UPA Government," Mayawati, who presided over the nearly two-hour-long meeting, told reporters later.

"It was unanimously decided to expose the double standards of the CBI in both houses of Parliament and outside in front of the people," she added.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had on Tuesday (May 10, 2005) questioned Mayawati in connection with the Rs 175 crore Taj Heritage Corridor scam about which it had registered a disproportionate assets case against her two years ago.

Mayawati said the MPs authorised her to "take any appropriate decision on support to the UPA Government".

BSP, which has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha and six in the Rajya Sabha, extended unconditional outside support to the Government after the elections last year.

However, Mayawati had said in Lucknow yesterday (May 11, 2005) that the party might reconsider its support if Congress failed to take notice of the "treatment being meted out" to her.

Mayawati had also accused CBI of becoming a 'manuwadi' agency and said it was adopting "double standards" in her case as she happened to be a Dalit.

"While only one FIR was lodged against others framed in the Taj heritage corridor case, an additional case of disproportionate assets was slapped against me without much ground," she said.

The BSP chief had said she would write to President Kalam demanding that the CBI slap disproportionate assets cases against presidents of other national parties and conduct inquiry into the properties of their relatives as well.

The meeting today, which was attended by all party MPs, extended "full support" to her decision to write the letter, Mayawati said.

Asked whether any decision on withdrawing support to the Government could be expected soon, she told reporters "our future course of action will be conveyed to you".

The CBI had carried out raids in 2003 in premises of Mayawati in Lucknow, Khurja, Bulandshahar (all in UP) and Delhi after filing an FIR under Prevention of Corruption Act.

The searches had revealed documents relating to the purchase of properties in Delhi and parts of UP between April 1, 1995, and August 29, 2003. Mayawati had resigned as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister on August 27, 2003.