Money for statues should have been used for the poor: Congress

New Delhi, June 29 (ANI): The Congress party on Monday said the money used for installing statues of Dalit icons by Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister Mayawati could have been used for upliftment of the poor and backwards in the state.

Stating that the party was not against installing statues of national heroes, Congress said, but it was against "overdoing" it.

"We feel the money (spent on statues) could have been used for upliftment of the poor and backwards in the state," Shakeel Ahmed, Congress spokesman said in the national capital.

"We are not against memorials for national heroes...But when it is overdone, it becomes problematic," Ahmed added.

Meanwhile, reacting on Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's comments of bulldozing the statues if he could, Ahmed said this could be his (SP chief's) thinking but certainly not that of the Congress party.

When asked Congress party's reaction to Mayawati's comments stating making Meira Kumar the Speaker of Lok Sabha would not help Dalits, the Congress spokeman said: "If someone cannot understand the importance of the post of the Speaker, what can we say?" (ANI)