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Samajwadi Party to ‘mourn’ installation of Mayawati statues

Special Correspondent

Mayawati to inaugurate 40 statues, including six of herself, in Lucknow

LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party will pay “homage” to the Bahujan Samaj Party Government in Uttar Pradesh and “mourn” the installation of Chief Minister Mayawati’s statues in all district headquarters across the State on July 3.

The Samajwadi Party’s protest assumes significance because on July 3 Ms. Mayawati is slated to inaugurate about 40 statues, including six of herself, at a function in Lucknow.

Addressing his maiden press conference here on Thursday after being given charge of the State unit of the SP, party president Mulayam Singh’s son Akhilesh Yadav said the Chief Minister had spent Rs.10,000 crore on parks, memorials and statues at a time when the farmers were faced with the prospect of drought. There was no water and the irrigation channels had gone dry and the people were reeling under the impact of power shortage, he added.

Prices of essential commodities had skyrocketed and many people had been rendered jobless, he said.

Mr. Yadav said the Samajwadi Party had decided to offer homage (“shraddhanjali sabha") to the ruling BSP at the district headquarters on July 3 as it had lost the support of the people in the wake of the recent Lok Sabha elections in the State.

Asked why the party had decided to “mourn” for the statues of Chief Minister Mayawati, the young Samajwadi leader said according to Hindu tradition only statues of dead persons are installed.

Mr. Yadav said in subsequent days the Samajwadi Party would also intensify its agitation against the Mayawati Government on people-related issues.

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