Officials of the Unnao district administration, with villagers, use JCBs to recover dead bodies from the Ganga. Over 200 bodies had surfaced in the river on Tuesday.

Officials of the Unnao district administration, with villagers, use JCBs to recover dead bodies from the Ganga. Over 200 bodies had surfaced in the river on Tuesday. Officials of the Unnao district administration, with villagers, use JCBs to recover dead bodies from the Ganga. Over 200 bodies had surfaced in the river on Tuesday.

Even as mystery deepens around 100 dead bodies that were floating in river Ganga in Unnao, Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan on Thursday blamed local Bharatiya Janata Party MP Sakshi Maharaj in this regard.

"I came to know that Sakshiji has done this. He brought these bodies in a truck and threw them into the river. He is doing this to malign the state government," Azam told the media on Thursday. "Unnao MP is the main culprit. This was why he came to know about those floating bodies first and started making noise over it," Azam added.

Azam's statement assumes significance, considering he is the most powerful minister after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. The chief minister is on a week's leave and left for London on Wednesday along with his family.

More than 100 unclaimed bodies were seen floating in river Ganga in Unnao and 10 bodies in river Betwa in Jhansi in the last two days. The local administrations of both the places said that there are some Hindu castes in which unmarried people are buried along the river banks instead of being cremated. These bodies later emerge and float in the river when water level goes down.

Reacting to Azam's jibe, Sakshi Maharaj said, "Was the state government sleeping when I was bringing the dead bodies in the truck? Azam's statement proves that the state government doesn't take the issue seriously. The SP government had submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court that not a single body would be thrown into river Ganga. Azam must admit his failure and resign."

Earlier, Sakshi Maharaj had blamed the state government for the floating dead bodies and said that "something alarming" was happening. "The state government appears to be least bothered about these bodies. Although the Samajwadi Party government doesn't respect the people of the state, it has become clear that it also doesn't respect dead people. The government should have ordered a high-level inquiry into this incident and should have organised mass cremation of these bodies. But the state government officers are burying these bodies by digging earth with the help of heavy machines," the Unnao MP had said.

"I have decided to take up this issue because it is happening in my Lok Sabha constituency. I will talk to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders and demand a CBI probe into it," he had said.

Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has also demanded a CBI probe into the mystery. "This incident has terrorised the people of Uttar Pradesh. I demand that the Centre should order a time-bound CBI inquiry to unearth the reasons behind the deaths and the mystery behind their floating bodies," she said here on Thursday.

Mayawati said she has been demanding President's rule in Uttar Pradesh because there is compete anarchy in the state, but that doesn't seem to be a possibility, with the BJP and the SP eyeing a political future together.