NEW DELHI, 8 March — Bahujan Samaj Party leader Ms. Mayawati yesterday welcomed the imposition of president’s rule in Uttar Pradesh and declared that her party would make all efforts to form the next government in the northern state.
While addressing a press conference she announced her decision to quit her parliamentary seat. The BSP leader has won from two constituencies — Jehangirganj and Harora, in the recently concluded assembly polls in UP. Mayawati retained the Harora seat.
“We will try our best to form a government. But if we are not able to muster the numbers, then we are not afraid of another election,” Mayawati said, pointing out that she became the chief minister in 1997 in similar circumstances, after five months of central rule. “If BSP cannot form a government in Uttar Pradesh, no other party can,” she said. The BSP emerged as the second largest party, winning 98 seats, in the state assembly elections.
Her remarks came against the backdrop of the failure by Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to garner the support of other legislators to form a government.
Mulayam’s party became the single largest by winning 147 seats in the elections, but lost a legislator who was gunned down Wednesday during a street protest against Governor V.K. Shastri for not inviting the party to take power.
“In the next election, the BSP will win an absolute majority,” insisted Mayawati.
The BSP has organized a meeting of 10,000 workers, including MPs, legislators and district leaders, tomorrow, to debate its strategy. She refused to reveal whether she was talking to the BJP, which had earlier declared it would sit in opposition rather than prop up any other party. “I will not show my cards just yet,” she said. Would she accept support from the BJP? “We are keeping a close eye on the developments,” she replied. “If any party or legislator wants to support us, we will welcome them.”
The BSP chief, Kanshi Ram hinted that Mayawati’s decision to relinquish her Akbarpur parliamentary seat and concentrate on “leading the BSP’s 98 legislators” in Uttar Pradesh was a clear signal to the BJP to make the next move and offer to prop the BSP.
While ruling out any possibility of joining hands with the Samajwadi Party or the Congress party, Mayawati betrayed her party’s inclinations by showing tacit support to the BJP, which is currently beleaguered by the Ayodhya temple-mosque dispute and the Gujarat communal carnage. “The BSP feels that the disputed site (of the razed Babri Mosque) should not be disturbed until a court verdict, but if the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) wants to build a temple on the undisputed land and Muslims agree to it, we have no objections,” she said.
