New Delhi, October 28
With the UP 2012 mission in sharp focus, the Congress today came out strongly in support of Jairam Ramesh, thrashing Mayawati for attacking the Union Rural Development Minister, who in turn also rejected the UP Chief Minister’s charge that his demand for a CBI probe into MGNREGA implementation in her state was “politically motivated”.

Responding to Mayawati's letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that charged Jairam with having a pre-conceived agenda against Uttar Pradesh without taking into account the steps taken by her government, Ramesh maintained he would not hesitate to recommend similar investigations even in Congress-ruled states.

He said he would soon write to the Rajasthan Government where some collectors had been found guilty of embezzlement of MGNREGA funds while insisting that there was absolutely no politics on his mind when he chose to write to Mayawati. “My letter is based on report of NLMs (National-Level Monitors) and SQM (State-Quality Monitor) who found embezzlement of funds.

There are instances of deliberate misuse of MGNREGA funds (in some districts),” Ramesh said.

The minister said he had asked CAG for a performance audit of MGNREGA in 12 states, including four Congress-ruled states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.

Meanwhile, launching a parallel attack on Mayawati, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi gave specific examples of MGNREGA corruption in the state.

Singhvi explained how in Balrampur district, there was documented proof of Rs 1.5 lakh worth calendars, tents worth Rs 80 lakh and in Gonda toys worth Rs 37 lakh for crèches, all bought with MGNREGA funds. “How can you refute such figures?” he said.