http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_mayawati-doesn-t-garland-gandhi-statue_1294603
Mayawati doesn't garland Gandhi statue Deepak Gidwani / DNASaturday, October 3, 2009 2:13 IST Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati did not turn up to pay tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his 140th birth anniversary at a government function in Lucknow on Friday. This is probably for the first time that a chief minister kept away from honouring the Father of the Nation on October 2. Senior officials confirmed that all arrangements had been made for Mayawati to garland Gandhi's statue at GPO park on Friday morning in keeping with convention. However, word came in at the last moment that she was not coming. Governor BL Joshi then garlanded the statue. An official spokesman refused to comment on why Mayawati did not turn up for the ceremony. But he said the chief minister had offered flowers before Gandhi's portrait in the Vidhan Bhawan. Mayawati skipped another programme at the Gandhi Ashram. Former chief ministers, including Mayawati's predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav, always made it a point to be present at the Gandhi Jayanti ceremony. But Mayawati has skipped the programme on several occasions in the past, too. Some years ago, she had even made disrespectful statements about Gandhi. Congress spokesman Vivek Singh called it an insult to the Father of the Nation. "If a CM refuses to respect Gandhiji, she should be dismissed... her absence (from the programme) makes a mockery of democracy... it's like a CM refusing to attend the Republic Day parade," he said. Meanwhile, inspired by Rahul Gandhi, Congress leaders took to the countryside to spend the night at the homes of Dalits. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi held a 'chaupal' at the house of a villager from the Kol community, a scheduled tribe, in a Dalit-dominated village near Allahabad. Union ministers SP Jaiswal and Jitin Prasada too spent time in Dalit villages. Joshi told reporters that party leaders had been told not to carry packed food and mineral water or make any special arrangements for their stay in Dalit villages. "It's a matter of demonstrating our commitment to the Dalits," she said.
