And because I refused to concede to their demand, I am being hounded and harassed in this manner,' Abdullah told reporters at night.

The Lucknow Development Authority officials were armed with a demolition order signed by the authority vice chairman.

According to a source, the owner was charged with letting out the lawns of the bungalow for weddings and parties in violation of the terms of the lease. This was found to be sufficient ground to cancel the lease.

Asked to comment, a senior LDA official told IANS: 'There is no intention to grab anybody's house. All that we have done is to cancel the garden lease of the bungalow, as the open lawns were being misused for commercial purposes.'

The BSP and Mayawati are reported to have transferred nearly 250,000 sq ft of land in the Mall Avenue area in the names of in-house party outfits ever since the party rode to power in May 2007.