Rs.5 crore garland for Mayawati?

 Photo: Subir Roy

Lucknow, March 15 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati was Monday presented a giant garland of currency notes by her fans from Karnataka. Though the exact value of the garland is not known, onlookers put it in the region of a whopping Rs.5 crore!

In fact, no one noticed the Rs.1,000 currency notes with which the giant garland was created until these were identified by a local photographer when he zoomed in.

Earlier, while Mayawati was being garlanded, mediapersons could make out from a distance that it was not a run-of-the-mill garland. But beholders perceived it as one made of some exquisite imported flowers.

However, the mystery was unravelled no sooner than the still pictures were promptly lifted and beamed by TV channels.

Those present on the dais, however, feigned ignorance about the unique garland in which some 50,000 currency notes of Rs.1,000 each were believed to have been used.

The garland was specially crafted and brought by Mayawati’s party functionaries all the way from Bangalore for Monday’s mega rally organised by her to mark the Bahujan Samaj Party’s silver jubilee celebrations, which coincided with the 76th birth anniversary of party founder and her political mentor Kanshi Ram.

A CBI probe should be ordered into it, he said adding the Income Tax Department should also conduct an inquiry into the assets of ministers in the Mayawati government.

Congress leader Akhilesh Singh said departments like the RBI and the Income Tax should take suo moto notice of it and find out from where the money had come.

UP BJP vice president Hriday Narain Dixit said the garland episode was one more example of BSP’s attempt to institutionalise corruption. He demanded a clarification from the Chief Minister on the episode.