UP govt's bridge plan near Maya's house irks BSP

The Samajwadi Party (SP) government’s proposal to construct an over bridge near former chief minister Mayawati’s bungalow and in front of the BSP headquarters led to a verbal duel between the two arch rivals on Tuesday.

The bridge, if constructed, will block the view of the BSP headquarters while exposing Mayawati’s bungalow. Not long ago, people did not dare to go near the lane that housed the official bungalow of the BSP supremo as the security personnel would guard both the entry and the exit points and the entire area had been declared out of bounds for common people. Even those who had houses on the same lane were allowed only after a thorough security check. Snipers had also been deployed at the watchtowers on the bungalow premises.

With the change of guard in the state, however, everything has changed. The SP government’s plan was unveiled in the state budget that was presented in the Assembly by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday. The government earmarked Rs 40 crore for constructing the bridge. It came as a shock to the members of the BSP, who strongly criticised it.

The government claimed that the proposed bridge will ease the traffic in the area where a large number of VIPs reside. But the BSP cried foul and said the move was “politically motivated”. A verbal duel ensued between the two arch rivals.  The BSP targeted SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav’s residence, which is not very far from Mayawati’s official residence and the SP’s state headquarters at Vikramaditya Marg, and said the government should build an over bridge there to ease the traffic jam.

“If (the government) is really concerned about the problems of the people, they should construct an over bridge on Vikramaditya Marg to ease the traffic,” BSP leader Swami Prasad Maurya said.

Mayawati, during her tenure as the chief minister, had made the chief minister’s residence at 5, Kalidas Marg, out of bounds for the public.