Akhilesh once criticised Mayawati for her statues, now goes soft on her

SP president Akhilesh Yadav, who in the past has lashed at BSP chief Mayawati for getting her statues erected with the state's money, Friday went soft on his alliance partner after a scathing observation by the Supreme Court on the same issue.

"I don't have full information about this. The court might have made some observations. BSP's lawyers will put their side in the court," he told reporters.

The apex court, earlier in the day, said it was of the tentative view that Mayawati should reimburse the public money used for erecting statues of herself and of elephants, the party's symbol, in Lucknow and Noida.

The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party recently announced their alliance for Uttar Pradesh in the coming Lok Sabha elections, putting aside their once bitter rivalry.

Akhilesh Yadav had earlier termed the parks and memorials set up in the BSP regime a Rs 40,000-crore scam. But when questioned Friday on the apex court's observations on BSP leader's statues, Yadav attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party instead.

"A statue is going to be installed at the Lok Bhavan here, he said, in an apparent reference to Yogi Adityanath government's plan to put up a 25-foot statue of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The building houses the chief minister's office in the state capital Lucknow.

We will also install a statue of SP leader Ram Sharan Das there," he added.

Yadav recently got support from Mayawati after reports that the Central Bureau of Investigation might quiz him in an alleged mining scam.

In 2012, Yadav had said, "The scam in building parks and memorials during Mayawati government was worth Rs 40,000 crore, taking into account the land used for parks and adding cost of the buildings which were constructed and later bulldozed for the parks."
When the matter came up for hearing on Friday, the court said, "Ms Mayawati, pay all the money back. We are of the view that Mayawati should reimburse all the money she spent."