'Icon statue building' Mayawati afraid of Samajwadi Party's achievements: Akhilesh Yadav

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday lashed out at Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati for lampooning the Samajwadi Party's laptop scheme, saying the opposition leader is not in a position to talk when she had spent crores of rupees installing statues glorifying self rather than using those funds for the state's development.

"Today, the money of the people is being used for the welfare of students, farmers and building of hospitals. If new medical colleges are being built and run, over 350 students have got the opportunity to get an MBBS degree. They (BSP) have become afraid of the achievements of the Samajwadi Party Government," he told media here.

Mayawati had earlier in the day criticized the Samajwadi Party (SP) Government in Uttar Pradesh for distributing laptops to students, and described it to be a political gimmick to divert the attention of the people from the deteriorating law and order condition in the state.

"People of Uttar Pradesh are very unhappy with the law and order situation and lack of development activities. Law and order situation in UP is worse that what media reports, especially women are really suffering," Mayawati said.

"But to divert attention from the crumbling law and order situation, this SP government starts distributing free laptops , and these laptops are mostly given to students who are associated with Samajwadi Party workers," she added.

Akhilesh Yadav, who distributed free laptops at Lucknow University here today, said that it would help youngsters get good jobs.

The Uttar Pradesh Government's ambitious free laptop scheme to class XII passout students is a part of the Samajwadi Party's election pledge.

Yadav has distributed 80,000 laptops so far.