Maya monuments: SC wants answers

The Supreme Court has issued a notice to Mayawati for erecting monuments and statues across Uttar Pradesh. The apex court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by lawyers, to stop further construction of statues of Mayawati and her party symbol, the elephant.

The petition says Mayawati is misusing public money by putting upher statues and that of her party symbol. The petition also challengesthe installation of 60 elephant statues, the symbol of her party, atpublic places. The elephant statues cost Rs 52.20 crore from the statefunds. Lawyers say this violates many rules of the Election Commission.

Meanwhile, responding to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's allegations that the Congress is keeping Dalit leaders away from their people by giving them top jobs, Digvijay Singh said that Mayawati is simply getting nervous. He also said that the Congress has been working for Dalits even before she was born.

Earlier, in a booklet distributed by Mayawati said, Congress is giving top appointments to Dalit leaders because they don't want these leaders to work closely with their people.

She said Meira Kumar has been made the Speaker because the Congress wants to keep her away from Dalits and the common man.

She went a step further to say that Dalit leaders in the government work like bonded labourers and even if they become the Prime Minister they can do very little for the development of the Dalits.

To further add to her accusations, she said, after the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Sushil Kumar Shinde, too, was removed from the chief minister's post and made the governor of Andhra Pradesh, just to keep him away from the voters.

She said the main aim of the Congress is to woo Dalits and eat into BSP votes.

Earlier, Home Minister P Chidambaram had said that the statues built by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati across the state are a shame. Recently, Mayawati unveiled 15 statues in one day, and has over the years built huge monuments as a tribute to herself, as well as other Dalit icons.

In a strongly worded statement, Chidambaram said the money spent could have been used more productively.