She made this remark after laying the foundation stone for the Kanshi Ram Green (Eco) Garden on the site of the demolished Lucknow jail — the next hearing of the case involving construction of memorials is scheduled tomorrow in the Supreme Court.
Targeting the Congress, Mayawati said the party had announced construction of a Shivaji statue in the sea off Mumbai just before elections in Maharashtra. “Why has the Congress, which has been in power in the state for the last ten years, decided to honour Shivaji Maharaj at the time of elections?... Samundar mein koi sthal banane mein kitna kharcha hoga (how much will they spend on a memorial in the sea)... But the Congress will not consider this as misuse of funds,” she said, pointing out that her party, the BSP, was not against Shivaji’s statue.
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She alleged that the UPA government was trying to stall her government’s Noida Park project by raising environment issues. She told the gathering that the Congress had spent “several crores” in constructing memorials of members of the Nehru-Gandhi family but “never called it misuse of public fund”.
She said the SP had gone the Congress way. “The Samajwadi Party has always tried to get the Ambedkar Park demolished,” she alleged, adding that both the parties were trying to create hurdles and prevent construction of memorials and parks by her government.
Meanwhile, the UP government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court on the eve of the hearing on the construction of memorials, dismissing as “erroneous... more enthusiasm than accuracy” all the media reports that showed construction activity at memorial sites despite court orders calling for a halt.
In the over 100-page affidavit with annexures, Chief Secretary Atul Kumar Gupta said the state had the highest regard for the Supreme Court and believed in carrying out its directions in “letter and spirit”.
According to the state government, certain maintenance works and boundary walls were being constructed at properties which were not a subject matter of dispute and its photographs were “mixed up by the media” to give an “erroneous view”.
“Notwithstanding this, it is respectfully submitted that if any transgression has occurred, I tender the most profuse apology for the same and humbly submit that the same was entirely unintended,” he said.
