Taking a dig at BSP supremo Mayawati, Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party president Ram Vilas Paswan said Sunday that her main purpose in erecting statues of several Dalit icons, including B R Ambedkar, when she was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister was to build her own statues.

Paswan's comments came in the wake of some adverse observations made by the Supreme Court in a plea filed against her decision to spend public money on statues of leaders, some of whom were linked to her party, and also on the BSP symbol of the elephant when she was at the helm in UP.