Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav has warned Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati to remove her own statues installed at different places in the state capital, or the SP — whenever it comes to power — will raze them down by running bulldozers over them. The SP chief’s reaction came after he came to know that the state Government had stopped construction work of Jai Prakash International Study Centre, which was started by his Government as an extension of his dream project Lohia Park.

The centre was planned to include facilities like a library, an auditorium and a hostel for scholars. The Mulayam Government had sanctioned Rs 17 crore for the centre, of which Rs 2 crore had been spent on the intitial work. This was not the only provocation for the SP leader. The current Government has also demolished four columns raised in memory of Ram Manohar Lohia at a roundabout near the SP office in Lucknow. The four pillars symbolised Lohia’s idea of giving equal importance to gram panchayat, zila panchayat, state Government and the Central Government to achieve optimum growth.