Payment of Rs 40 lakh to film star and Samajwadi Party member of Parliament Jayaprada for a dance recital at the just-concluded Lucknow Mahotsav has kicked up a row in Uttar Pradesh.

Opposition parties said it was a move to appease the party leader.

"It was nothing but an attempt to the please party leader using a cultural programme as an excuse," said BJP's state president Kesari Nath Tripahti said.

Congress legislature party leader Pramod Tewari said while Jayaprada was paid Rs 40 Lakhs, world renowned vocalist Pandit Jasraj, who had also put up a performance, was given Rs 3 lakh.

"This amounts to nothing but discrimination against artistes by the state government," he alleged.

UP Tourism Minister Kokab Hamid, however, justified the payment to Jayaprada saying she had led a big troupe of artists.

Though he distanced himself from the Lucknow festival organised by the state cultural department, Hamid said a similar payment was made to Jayaprada for staging a programme at the Taj Mahotsav.