Mayawati trashes ‘UP Investors Summit’, calls it waste of public money

Lucknow, Feb 23 (IANS) A day after the two-day ‘UP Investors Summit’ ended here, BSP supremo Mayawati on Friday trashed it and accused the state government of blowing up crores of rupees to "hide its failures and deflect public attention".

"It has become a fashion under the Bharatiya Janata Party governments to waste public money on such investors’ meet even though the returns have been abysmal in the past," the former Chief Minister said in a statement here.

She said the public money (spent on the event) could have been used for important works to ensure the welfare of the poor, farmers and unemployed youths.

"The entire exercise was to deflect public attention from more serious and pertinent issues like poor law and order, inflation, price rise, and unemployment," said the Dalit leader.

More than 1,200 memorandums of understanding were signed during the two-day meet, with commitments on investments of over Rs 4.35 lakh crore. Industrialists like Mukesh Ambani, Gautam Adani, Subhash Chandra, and Anand Mahindra participated.

Mayawati claimed that private investors were unlikely to come to the state with their money due to poor law and order.

"Both the Union and the state governments have failed miserably in improving the living conditions of the people and in resolving serious issues and challenges faced by the country," she said.

By claiming that MoUs worth several crores of rupees were signed, the BJP was once again trying to indulge in false propaganda to fool the people, she said.

Mayawati also reminded the BJP of the promise made by Narendra Modi in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections about bringing back black money from abroad and ensuring Rs 15 lakh each in the bank accounts of the people.

"First, the BJP needs to come true to its promises made earlier. Then only it can make tall claims about the future," the BSP supremo added.