Sonia Gandhi's dream railway project for her constituency was derailed by Mayawati just two days before Sonia accompanied by Railway Minister Lalu Yadav was to perform the ‘bhoomi pujan’ ceremony of the factory, on Tuesday, October 14.

The BSP government in Lucknow cancelled its order for allotment of 189.25 hectares of gram sabha land for the erection of a rail coach factory at Lalganj in Sonia Gandhi's parliamentary constituency, Rae Bareli.

Vijay Shankar Pandey, Mayawati's principal secretary, told mediapersons on Sunday that the decision to cancel the allotment was taken in the wake of the Rae Bareli DM's report which said that there was palpable unrest and pique among people whose land had been acquired and that the state of affairs in concerned villages had become volatile.

This decision has ostensibly incited the congress leaders who are of opinion that Mayawati is depriving the industrially starved state of a big manufacturing unit.

“It’s unfortunate that Mayawati has denied land to the railway project at a time when other CMs are vying with each other to bring investments to their states,” party general secretary Digvijay Singh told TOI.