Memorials will earn money from tourists, says Mayawati

October 1st, 2009 LUCKNOW - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will soon come up with a chargesheet against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati in a campaign against the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government. The chargesheet will expose the misdeeds and corrupt practices committed by Mayawati and her government.

September 10th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav Thursday said the Mayawati government could be termed "unconstitutional" for flouting orders of the Supreme Court to stop all work at memorial projects across Uttar Pradesh. Accusing Mayawati of having turned into an "unbridled dictator", he also threatened to get all the structures pulled down, once his party was voted back to power.

August 3rd, 2009 LUCKNOW - Unfazed by the criticism over its statue-erecting spree, the Mayawati government of Uttar Pradesh has sought the assembly sanction for an additional Rs.556 crore (Rs.5.56 billion) for the projects, and in contrast sought just Rs.250 crore to deal with the prevailing drought in the state. Over the years, Rs.5,000 crore have been allocated towards Chief Minister Mayawati's dream projects since the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) came to power in May 2007.

July 18th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati announced that her party would carry out State wide agitation in Uttar Pradesh on July 22 against the policies of the UPA Government at the centre. Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Mayawati criticized the Center's decision to hike the prices of petroleum products.

July 18th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Continuing the verbal sparring with the Congress, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Saturday hit out at Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi for criticising her government and said the Congress should "first set its own house in order before accusing others". Gandhi's support for state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who was arrested and sent to judicial custody for her remarks against the chief minister, has infuriated Mayawati further.

July 1st, 2009 LUCKNOW - Seeking to justify use of nearly Rs.3,200 crore (Rs.3.2 billion) of public funds for building grandiose memorials and statues of Dalit icons, including of herself, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Wednesday said the money earned from tourists visiting the spots will be used for development. "Since the monuments built to commemorate our ideologues would eventually come up as attractive tourist spots and would naturally make a lot of earnings through entry fee, I have decided to use all the gate money towards development of villages named after Babasaheb Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram," Mayawati told reporters.

June 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday urged the Election Commission to serve a notice to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for using public money to install statues, including of herself, in Lucknow. "We request the Election Commission to serve a notice to Mayawati on the issue.

June 30th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Defending Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati against the Congress' criticism, her confidant and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national general secretary Satish Chandra Misra Tuesday reiterated that the drive to build memorials and install statues of Dalit icons would not affect the state's welfare schemes. "While undertaking the construction of memorials and statues, we are not in any way compromising with the programmes meant for the development of the state or for the upliftment of the poor," Misra said in a release issued by the state information department.

June 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress party Monday suggested Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati spend public money more on people's welfare than for putting up memorials and statues, including of herself. "Mayawati has been lavishly spending public money on building memorials and statues.

June 26th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati is facing flak from Congress leader Digvijay Singh and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for unveiling a series of statues, memorials and parks across the state. He said this while speaking to media persons at New Delhi on Friday.

June 25th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Prompted allegedly by a petition in the Supreme Court, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Thursday night surprised many and unveiled as many as 15 projects, including memorials and statues eight days before the schedule. Officials admitted that the unveiling ceremony was to take place July 3 but Mayawati changed the schedule as Delhi-based lawyer Ravi Kant filed a public interest litigation in the apex court seeking to prevent her from inaugurating projects.

May 19th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Further strengthening the stability to the new United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday said that her party would give outside support to the Congress-led alliance without any condition. Mayawati further said that her party has agreed to provide outside support of all 21 MPs to the UPA Government without any condition.

April 13th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati Monday said she is ready to face any action if her political rivals, particularly Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, prove that she has any money stashed in foreign banks. 'I openly challenge Mulayam Singh, who during his public meetings alleged that I have money deposited in foreign banks.

April 6th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Reacting to the call given by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for bringing back the black money from the Swiss Bank, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday targeted Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati over her birthday bash. The BJP has in its election manifesto promised that it would identify and retrieve Indian black money stashed abroad if it comes to power.

February 21st, 2009 LUCKNOW - Praising former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kalyan Singh as a true 'grassroots leader', Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav Friday termed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati as the 'most corrupt' politician in the country. Talking to mediapersons here, Yadav charged Mayawati of squandering away the taxpayer's money on 'stone memorials', while describing Kalyan Singh as the 'only BJP grassroots leader' other than former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.