From correspondents in Uttar Pradesh, India, 09:01 PM IST

A lawyer Thursday moved an application before a court in Uttar Pradesh's Barabanki district seeking action against state Chief Minister Mayawati for her alleged derogatory utterances against P.L. Punia, a former bureaucrat and now a Congress MP from the Barabanki parliamentary seat.

Shiv Kumar Shukla, in his application, has alleged that Mayawati in her party's national executive meeting April 19, had called Punia as a traitor and accused the Congress party of spending Rs.100 crore to facilitate his election win from Barabanki.

Responding to the application, the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) Jagdish Prasad Rajput listed the matter for June 8.

A former Indian Administrative Service officer, Punia had earlier served as principal secretary to the chief minister in both Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav-led governments.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)