Mayavati at a media conference in Lucknow on Wednesday. (PTI)

Lucknow, May 23: Uttar Pradesh stumbled from serial blasts to a cache of explosives powerful enough to blow up “half the temples in Ayodhya”, prompting Mayavati to sniff a “big conspiracy” by her rivals.

The explosives were found at Faizabad railway station today, a day after the tiffin-box blasts in Gorakhpur.

Faizabad’s twin town, Ayodhya, has been put on high alert to pre-empt any strike on the Ram Janmabhoomi complex. The Faizabad and Ayodhya railway stations are only 6 km from each other.

About 10 kg of explosives and 20 litres of ammonium nitrate, which makes a deadly mix in combination with kerosene or diesel, were seized by police from the second-class waiting room on platform 1 of Faizabad station.

“The explosives could have destroyed at least half the temples in Ayodhya town,” a bomb squad official said in Faizabad.

Faizabad superintendent of police K.K. Asthana said the explosives, which were packed in polythene bags, were found at 1.55 am.

There were low-intensity blasts in three crowded market areas in Gorakhpur yesterday. But only six people were injured as the bombs were not powerful.

With back-to-back bomb scares threatening to cast a shadow on the law-and-order record of her new government, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayavati pinned the blame on political rivals.

“There appears to be a big conspiracy behind the Gorakhpur blasts.... The Samajwadi Party and the BJP are frustrated (by the poll defeat) and want to disturb communal amity,” she said.

“If they try any tricks, they will be thwarted.”

Earlier, a bomb disposal squad scoured Faizabad and Ayodhya towns for explosives. Several hotels were raided in search of possible suspects.

Seven persons have been detained from the Ram Janmabhoomi complex. The police said they were loitering suspiciously around Kanak Bhavan.

In July 2005, five militants had attacked the temple complex but were shot dead by security forces.

Uttar Pradesh director-general of police G.L. Sharma said in Gorakhpur the police were checking if there was any link between yesterday’s blasts and the explosives found today.

Preliminary investigations have shown that timers were used to detonate the tiffin-box bombs. But the police later denied the use of timers. Ten persons, picked up by a closed-circuit camera in a fuel station close to the blast site, are being questioned.

The police suspect the blasts could have been a trial run for a bigger one.

CM breather

Mayavati today expanded her ministry after getting a fresh breather in the Taj corridor case.

Special CBI judge Rekha Dixit deferred the hearing till June 1 as the agency has not got sanction from the governor to prosecute the six accused, including the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

Two ministers were sworn in this evening, taking Mayavati’s cabinet strength from 51 to 53. One of them is Ram Sevak Singh Patel, the lone member of Uma Bharati’s Bharatiya Janshakti Party.