1 pc of UP budget spent on Noida park: Mayawati

Noida: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Friday inaugurated the 33-acre Dalit Prerna Sthal or the Ambedkar Park in Noida, built at a cost of Rs 650 crore.

Addressing the gathering at the event, Mayawati said that while there were memorials for Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi on the banks of Yamuna, there was none for B R Ambedkar or Kanshiram, hence the decision was taken to built the monument.

Hitting out at those who had opposed the park, the BSP supremo said that several opposition leader had tried to derail the construction of the Dalit memorial through the Supreme Court.

She further thanked the apex court for granting the permission to build the park.

Referring to the whopping cost of the construction of the memorial, Mayawati said, "We have only spent 1 per cent of our state budget on the construction of these monuments."

Later, she slammed the Congress for not giving enough funds to Uttar Pradesh, claiming that several developmental projects were stalled because of that.

"We are asking for construction of new states like Purvanchal, Harit Pradesh and Bundelkhand, but the Central government is not responding," she added.

Continuing his attack on the Congress party, she said that they might nominate Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar or former Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde as the prime ministerial candidates in 2014.

The BSP leader did not spare the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well.

Taking on veteran leader Lal Krishna Advani, she said that he should have started his rath yatra against corruption from Karnataka, and not Bihar. She added that Advani was doing the yatra only to become the prime minister of the country.

"The BJP should come out with a white paper on the Karnataka corruption instead of UP," said Mayawati.

The UP chief minister however extended support to anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare and yoga guru Baba Ramdev, saying that "if they are serious about removing corruption without any political colour, our party will support it".

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