"Dalit Queen" Mayawati under fire over statues

By Alka Pande

LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - India's "untouchable queen" who is one of the country's best-known politicians has come under fire after the Supreme Court questioned her spending about $425 million on erecting statues of herself and her party leaders.

The top court had given Mayawati, a Dalit who has been touted as a future prime minister, four weeks to respond to allegations that she has erected dozens of statues with public funds in Uttar Pradesh, one of India's poorest state.

"In such a state where the human development index is so low, each rupee should go for development," Ravi Kant, a lawyer who brought the petition against Mayawati, told reporters in state capital Lucknow.

Mayawati's political star has fallen in recent months amid growing accusations of extravagant spending. Her party won 21 seats in the last election, half of what was expected.

Her poor parliamentary showing was seen as highlighting a growing voter backlash nationally against grandiose projects that neglected development issues.

"In this election, a section of Mayawati's voters did complain that their villages did not have water, roads, but only had her statues," said Sudha Pai, professor at the Centre for Political Studies at the Jawaharlal Nehru University.

The Congress party-led coalition won 262 parliamentary seats, just 10 short of a majority in the 545-member lower house of parliament, riding on pro-farmer policies and development.

India's Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram has also criticised Mayawati, saying it was "shameful" to waste money on statues.