Put Julian Assange in Agra mental hospital: Mayawati

Mayawati and Julian Assange were today involved in an unseemly spat with the UP chief minister suggesting that he be sent to a mental asylum and the WikiLeaks founder hitting back by asking her to apologise.

"I would request the government of his country to send him(Assange) to a mental asylum and if they have no place for him in his country we can put him in our Agra mental hospital", Mayawati told reporters in Lucknow.

Assange struck back. "I ask that Mayawati admit her error and apologise. 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," he said in a statement.

Going ballistic against Asssange, an enraged Mayawati rejected as baseless the allegations against her in the cables, saying the "WikiLeaks owner" has gone "mad" or either playing into the hands of her political opponents.

She was responding to leaked US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks last week describing how the BSP supremo once allegedly dispatched her empty private jet to fetch her favourite sandals from Mumbai. Mayawati had food tasters to sample her meals and a "security entourage to rival a head of state", it claimed.

The cables quoting an aide of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also said she was a person with a "penchant for personal corruption" and "a strong authoritarian streak".

"They are wrong, mischievous and derogatory and an effort to damage the image of the government. I condemn them.

"This is a conspiracy to defame the honest party workers and to create an environment of distrust within the party," she said.

In his statement, Assange said that "Mayawati has betrayed the rational thought. The question is, has she also betrayed the Dalit?"