Senior BJP leader Laxmi Kanta Chawla on Sunday hit out at her party-led government in Maharashtra for allotting land in Mumbai to actor and MP Hema Malini at "throwaway" price, terming it as "illegitimate benefit".

She also asked whether only the MP is promoting the country's culture.

"The Maharashtra Government has allotted a prime piece of land valued in crores to actor and MP Hema Malini for a dance academy for just Rs 70,000. For a Parliamentarian, this kind of benefit is illegitimate," Chawla said in a statement issued in Jalandhar on Sunday.

A month after the BJP-led government in Maharashtra announced allotment of a prime piece of land to Hema Malini for a dance academy, an RTI activist claimed the plot valued in crores was being given for mere Rs 70,000.

"The BJP-Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra should explain whether Hema Malini was the only one in the state who was propagating the country's culture through her dance academy," the former national vice-president of BJP said.

"The government should stop the drama of charging Rs 70,000 for the land and give it for free," she said sarcastically and demanded, "Those promoting culture as social work should also get land for free."