NEW DELHI/ LUCKNOW: The tension between the Congress and Mayawati went a few notches up on Wednesday. A day after Sonia Gandhi dared the Uttar Pradesh administration to arrest her in her karmabhoomi Rae Bareli, Mayawati called it a "drama" for "political mileage" and said she would have "fulfilled" the Congress chief's wish but didn't want to "misuse her authority".
The Congress, in turn, returned fire with fire, demanding that the BSP chief put a stop to her strongarm tactics or else the party would make it difficult for her to tour the rest of the country.
Reacting to Sonia's challenge, Mayawati told reporters: "If we wanted to display the power of the state administration, then we would not have allowed her [Sonia] to conduct a road show in Rae Bareli and would have arrested her and fulfilled her wish. But we are not the ones to misuse authority."
Mayawati said, "We had only asked her [Sonia] not to hold a public rally in Lalganj following tension there. The prohibitory orders were not imposed anywhere else in the district."
"Congress party workers brought their president to Rae Bareli who did a drama of going to jail without any reason and returned to Delhi yesterday [Tuesday]," she said.
Countering Sonia's charge that the UP government was trying to scuttle the states development by cancelling the land allotted for a railway project in Rae Bareli, Mayawati said: "Congress is worried only about Rae Bareli but I am worried about the whole of Uttar Pradesh."
"The bhoomi pujan for the project [rail coach factory] is a mere drama for political mileage ahead of Lok Sabha elections," the BSP chief said.
The UP chief minister accused the Centre of stalling developmental schemes in the state, including the Ganga Expressway. Mayawati also announced a maha rally to apprise people about the "impediments created by the Centre" in developmental schemes in Uttar Pradesh.
On alleged protests by farmers on the acquisition of land for the rail coach factory at Lalganj, Mayawati said she had constituted a committee under Principal Secretary Netram to inquire into objections of the farmers that would submit its report within three days.
Taking pot-shots at the Congress chief for terming Rae Bareli and Amethi as "karmabhoomi of Firoze, Indira and Rajiv Gandhi and now that of her and Rahul", Mayawati asked how many jobs "have been given to people of Rae Bareli in the past 44 years of Congress rule in Uttar Pradesh and 48 years of rule at the Centre.
NEW DELHI/ LUCKNOW: The tension between the Congress and Mayawati went a few notches up on Wednesday. A day after Sonia Gandhi dared the Uttar Pradesh administration to arrest her in her karmabhoomi Rae Bareli, Mayawati called it a "drama" for "political mileage" and said she would have "fulfilled" the Congress chief's wish but didn't want to "misuse her authority". 
