SAHARANPUR/MUMBAI - Newly appointed general secretary of Samajwadi Party (SP) Sanjay Dutt slammed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for not utilising the funds available with the State for the welfare of the people.

“When I came to Lucknow, I saw statues all around and I was told by one that all these were statues of Mayawati. I found it weird because the statue of a person is made after his death. The amount of money wasted in making the statues should have been utilised for people’s welfare,” Dutt said while addressing a public meeting here on Thursday.

Sanjay Dutt was accompanied by party senior leader Amar Singh.

Meanwhile, in Mumbai, senior Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam hit back at the Bollywood actor for holding him responsible for the death of Sunil Dutt, father of Sanjay Dutt.

“The allegation that I was the cause behind Sunil Dutt’s demise is baseless. I want to remind Sanjay Dutt that Sunil Dutt was not a weak person. He was a strong person. He was secular and a wonderful person. I always had a respect for him. If he had a weak heart, he would not have been able to survive after seeing Sanjay Dutt’s misdeeds,” said Nirupam.

According to Sanjay Dutt, his father had objected to the Congress party admitting Sanjay Nirupam, a former member of the Shiv Sena.

Dutt had said that his father was unhappy with Nirupam’s entry into the Congress.

Sanjay also recalled that Nirupam had viciously criticised Sunil Dutt and other senior Congress leaders when Nirupam was with the Shiv Sena for nearly a decade.

Sanjay claimed that since his father had a weak heart he was disturbed by these developments to ultimately expire and thus he indirectly held Nirupam responsible.

Further, Nirupam also urged Sanjay to keep his late father Sunil Dutt out of this war of words by saying he was a great and revered leader in his own right, both in political and public spheres. (ANI)