how the BSP supremo once allegedly dispatched her empty private jet to fetch her favourite sandals from Mumbai.

Hitting back at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati who wanted him to be put in a “mental asylum,” WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday said Ms. Mayawati needed to take up her case with the U.S. if she had a problem with the contents of American diplomatic cables that painted her as an “egomaniac.”

His statement came hours after Ms. Mayawati slammed him over the U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks last week that described how the BSP supremo once allegedly dispatched her empty private jet to fetch her favourite sandals from Mumbai. The cables also claimed that she had food tasters to sample her meals and a “security entourage to rival a head of state.”

In a press statement, Mr. Assange said: “Mayawati has betrayed rational thought. The question is, has she also betrayed the Dalit? There is no question that the documents [leaked U.S. cables] are official papers...from the U.S. embassy. These papers have been proven the world over, including by the aggressive persecution of our people by Washington.”

“The allegations within them are made by U.S. diplomats in their private communications back to [Secretary of State] Hillary Clinton. If Chief Minister Mayawati has a problem with the contents of these communications, she needs to take it up with Hillary. I ask that Mayawati admit her error and apologise,” he said.

“Should she fail to do so, she is welcome to send a private jet to England to collect me, where I have been detained against my will, under house arrest for the last 272 days. I would be happy to accept asylum, political asylum, in India, a nation I love. In return, I will bring Mayawati a range of the finest British footwear.”

“Baseless, mischievous, slanderous reports”

Strongly criticising the WikiLeaks expose for naming her, Bahujan Samaj Party general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra and the State Cabinet Secretary, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Tuesday slammed the “baseless,” “mischievous” and “slanderous” reports, and saw in the disclosures a ploy to defame her party and the government.

Coming down heavily on the WikiLeaks owner (“malik”), who was not named by her, Ms. Mayawati said either he had lost his mental balance, or had aligned with the Opposition parties to discredit the BSP government.

“He should be housed in a mental asylum by the government of his country and if there are any problems he should be sent to the Agra mental asylum,” Ms. Mayawati remarked.

Terming the disclosures motivated, Ms. Mayawati said that henceforth more importance would be given by her to Cabinet Secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh and senior party colleague Satish Chandra Mishra.

At a press conference here, Ms. Mayawati cautioned the “honest officials” and “committed party workers” against the vilification campaign, and said that with the Vidhan Sabha elections due next year, her opponents would step up their campaign. She condemned a section of the media for carrying “one-sided” reports without “seeking the government's version.”

Ms. Mayawati derided BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi (who was not named by her) for his comments on the issue. “The happiness expressed by the BJP leader while defaming the BSP suggested that he was a partner of WikiLeaks.” She was referring to the remark that she had sent a special plane to Mumbai for fetching a pair of sandals.

“It appeared that the leader was on the special plane along with the owner of WikiLeaks,” she added.

About the number of cooks in the Chief Minister's residence, as mentioned in the expose, she said she was not aware of how many cooks were employed. “They know better… may be they were employed as servants in my household,” she remarked.