PTI

Amethi, Jul 17: Already in the midst of a bitter row between BSP and Congress, Rahul Gandhi took potshots at the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh saying there is place for statues and elephants in the state but not development and spoke of the need for Congress to come to power there.

On a thanksgiving visit to his constituency, the first after the Lok Sabha poll victory, he avoided any comments on the raging row over his party's state unit chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi's comments on the chief minister.

"There is place for statues and elephants (BSP symbol) but there should also be space for development and electricity," Gandhi said, in an apparent reference to the controversy over erection of memorials for Kanshi Ram and statues of Mayawati in different parts of the state, spending huge sums of public money.

Against the backdrop of protests and police action in his constituency over serious power shortage, he said, "If you want power you should have a Congress government in Lucknow. In three years you have to form a Congress government in Lucknow. Then I will be able to respond to questions on power.