Lucknow, Jun 7 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh Minister Sanjay Nishad has landed himself in a controversy by covering up a statue of Dr Ram Manohar Lohia, installed in his official residence at Vikramaditya Marg.

The house was earlier allotted to the Lohia Trust and Samajwadis had installed the life-size statue in the front garden.

Sanjay Nishad was recently allotted the house as Minister and he has now got the statue covered with a plywood box that has been painted in shades of red and green.

The covering up of the statue has drawn strong protests from the Samajwadi Party which sees it as an insult to their ideologue.

"What else can you expect from a government that has no respect for the Constitution, our leaders and ideologues. What is surprising that Prime minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath have praised Dr Lohia and cited his ideology on several occasions, but this minister shows utter disregard for Lohia," said party spokesman Anurag Bhadauria.

The Minister could not be contacted despite several attempts.