World | India
BJP tries to edge closer to Mayawati with eye on polls
Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has started wooing Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati with an eye on the forthcoming general elections.
- By Ajay Jha, Chief Correspondent
- Published: 00:45 February 14, 2008
New Delhi: Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has started wooing Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati with an eye on the forthcoming general elections.
Perturbed over an internal survey report that even its best performance may not be good enough to propel it to power, the party has zeroed in on Mayawati to help it come to power.
The bait being offered to Mayawati, who heads the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), is that in the event of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coming to power with her help, she can become the next deputy prime minister of the country.
The internal survey conducted by a professional agency on behalf of the BJP and its parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has predicted a maximum of 196 seats for the BJP and 243 seats overall for the NDA if all goes well for them, leaving them at least 29 seats short of a clear majority.
Performance
The move to woo Mayawati has been undertaken at the behest of Lal Krishna Advani, who is being projected as the NDA prime ministerial candidate. Incidentally, Advani himself had served as the deputy prime minister in the previous NDA government headed by now almost retired Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Mayawati's BSP came to power in Uttar Pradesh in grand style last year by getting majority on its own strength. Chances of her party improving upon its performance of the 2004 general elections, in which it had won 19 Lok Sabha seats, are being rated high by pollsters, who say her party could end up winning 30-40 seats in the next Lok Sabha. Uttar Pradesh elects the maximum 80 lawmakers to the 543-member Lok Sabha.
Mayawati herself had recently disclosed her ambition of playing a key role in the national politics.
BJP insiders say that while preliminary discussions were held with some senior BSP leaders about a possible tie up, the BSP has not yet committed itself either way.
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