From correspondents in Uttar Pradesh, India, 11:34 AM IST

Kanpur's Green Park stadium, the venue for the third India-Pakistan One-Day International, has been virtually given a blue hue - clearly resembling the official colour of Uttar Pradesh's ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

No wonder everyone seems to attribute it to the proposed visit of Chief Minister Mayawati, who is to give away the prizes at the end of the match Sunday.

The painting began shortly after Mayawati consented to being chief guest at the event.

What followed was incredible. Officials from the chief minister's secretariat personally monitored the large-scale renovation by the state government to give the place a face-lift.

It started with refurbishing of the VVIP pavilion and the special enclosure for the chief minister but later large parts of the giant stadium were also painted entirely in blue.

The manner in which the colour has been used shows that care has been taken to ensure that right from her entry into the venue, Mayawati gets a total 'blue view'.

All entry gates are draped or painted in blue and all chairs in different enclosures visible from the VVIP pavilion have also been painted the same colour.

Even road-dividers in the city have been painted blue.

No one is however willing to divulge as to how much money has been pumped into re-doing the stadium, which otherwise has often suffered gross neglect.

Unofficial reports estimated the expenditure to be around several million rupees.

The chief minister is scheduled to spend just about 30 minutes at the felicitation function.

Top aides of Mayawati have made at least 17 trips from Lucknow to Kanpur to personally supervise the face-lift of the VVIP pavilion.

Unprecedented security arrangements have been made in and around the venue, particularly between the police lines where Mayawati's helicopter would land, and the Green Park stadium.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)