››BSP LAWYERS WILL PUT THEIR SIDE IN COURT: SP

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said he assumed the Bahujan Samaj Party’s lawyers would present their side before the Supreme Court, which observed that BSP chief Mayawati should deposit public money used for erecting statues of herself and elephants, the party’s symbol, at public places in Uttar Pradesh to the state exchequer.

Akhilesh was replying to questions at a press conference here on Friday.

The SP and the BSP recently forged an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.

“I don’t have full information on this. The court might have made some observations. I guess the BSP’s lawyers will put their side in the court,” he said.

When it was pointed out to Akhilesh that he too had installed a new statue of Mayawati in place of a damaged one, he said: “We had replaced the statue out of respect. We are known for our respect for others.”

After the Akhilesh Yadav government assumed office in 2012 replacing the Mayawati regime, a statue of the BSP chief was vandalized. Akhilesh had got the statue replaced. The court, earlier in the day, said it was of the tentative view that Mayawati should deposit public money used for erecting statues of herself and elephants, the party’s symbol, at parks in Lucknow and Noida to the state exchequer.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi has posted the matter for final hearing on April 2.

The Supreme Court bench was hearing a petition filed by an advocate who had contended that public money cannot be utilised for creating own statues and for propagating the political party.

The petitioner alleged that crores of rupees were used from the state budget for 2008-09 to glorify Mayawati who was then the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

Attacking the BJP without taking its name, the SP chief said, “A statue is going to be installed in the Lok Bhavan here. We will also install a statue of SP leader Ram Sharan Das there.” He was referring to the Yogi Adityanath government’s plan to install a 25-feet statue of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Lok Bhawan, which houses the chief minister’s office, in the state capital.

He also said: “The budget (presented by the UP government on Thursday) is mere statistics. The BJP has forgotten and shelved its manifesto.” “In earlier governments, those who did not have livelihood or employment suffered. This is the first time that even those who have a livelihood, employment, tradesall are suffering because of the government’s policies,” he said.