Lucknow, Aug 1 - The Congress party Saturday hit out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati for opposing creation of an independent authority for economic development of the backward Bundelkhand region.

In a statement issued here, the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) media cell chief Vivek Singh flayed Mayawati for criticising the move, which he said was aimed at 'ensuring integrated development of the region that covers a few districts both in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh'.

'I fail to understand how a Dalit chief minister of the state can be opposed to any such move that was aimed at ensuring the economic upliftment of the poor and downtrodden living in that area,' he said.

'The initiative was taken by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, who took pains to traverse the length and breadth of the Bundelkhand region in the worst of summer to get a first hand account of the plight of the common people there -- something that Mayawati never cared to even find out.