Mayawati spoils for a fight with Gandhis

UP chief minister Mayawati seems to be bristling for a head-on confrontation with the Congress Party, rather the Gandhi family itself. On Saturday, the state government stopped the ambitious Rs520-crore SAIL project in Jagdishpur in Rahul Gandhi’s Amethi constituency in Sultanpur district.

The reason given by the district administration — the registry for the land has not been executed. Those in the know of things say the pretext is ridiculous and the action has been taken on orders from the highest echelons.

Earlier this week, a UP Minister inaugurated a bridge in Sonia Gandhi’s Rae Bareli constituency. Sonia was slated to inaugurate the bridge herself. Last year, Mayawati had put a spanner in the works of the Rs1,685 crore rail coach factory project in Rae Bareli, refusing to transfer the 190 acres of land reguired, even though the Railways Ministry had paid for the land. It was after much political and legal sparring that Mayawati relented and the project was started.

In the latest episode, the Sultanpur district officials have issued a notice to the SAIL authorities saying no work can proceed on the site unless the stamp duty of Rs 10.45 crore towards registry of the land under the project is paid.

SAIL had bought the project from the original promoters, Malvika Steels, for Rs 209 cr and had announced a Rs 520-crore project. Rahul Gandhi had himself attended the hand-over ceremony at the project site in February last year. Then Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Minister of State Jitin Prasada were also on the dais with top SAIL officials.