A day after Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati talked tough on alliances, warning her party wás ready to go it alone if a respectable numbers of seats weren’t offered to them, the Congress on Monday reacted with caution.
“Mr. Kamal Nath [State Congress chief] is carrying on negotiations with the BSP,” Jairam Ramesh, a member of the Congress core group, told The Hindu on a day when party president Rahul Gandhi participated in a road show in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh’s capital Bhopal. “How the negotiations will play out will be revealed in the next few days. Whether we have an alliance, how many seats will the BSP contest and even if we have an alliance, it is very clear that the majority of the seats would be contested by Congress,” Mr. Ramesh said. The Congress is looking for a tie-up with the BSP in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to consolidate the anti-BJP votes.
Sources close to the negotiations say the BSP is eyeing 50 seats in M.P. while the Congress isn’t willing to offer more than 30 right now.
But beyond Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Ms. Mayawati’s comment could lend itself to interpretations in the context of a possible grand alliance of Opposition parties, especially in the crucial battleground of Uttar Pradesh. Observers point here to Ms. Mayawati’s decision to not participate in the recent Congress-led nationwide agitation over soaring fuel prices as a clear indication that the BSP supremo was already setting the stage for some hard bargaining.
Opinion in the Congress is divided on how the BSP’s stance may impact Opposition unity. While one section contends the “BSP has no option,” another section avers that the BJP is resorting to pressure tactics to dissuade Ms. Mayawati from any such alliance.
“Like all opposition leaders, Behenji [Mayawati] is no exception and there will be pressure on her too,” a Congress leader from U.P said on condition of anonymity. “We are not the only ones who are in touch with her. The BJP’s top leadership too would be reaching out and, at times, through government agencies.”
