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Uttar Pradesh minister Mayawati dreams big
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati was emerging as the dark horse in the rapidly shifting political racetrack with two regional party leaders, both from Andhra Pradesh, supporting her as a prime ministerial candidate.
- IANS
- Published: 23:05 July 19, 2008
New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati was emerging as the dark horse in the rapidly shifting political racetrack with two regional party leaders, both from Andhra Pradesh, supporting her as a prime ministerial candidate on Saturday.
"Mayawati will play a crucial role in the third front. Why can't she be the prime minister," Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu told reporters after he met Mayawati at her residence.
Naidu, former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, said he would meet Mayawati again before Tuesday's crucial trust vote in parliament.
Naidu's public support for Mayawati's prime ministerial ambition came a few days after Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K. Chandrasekhar Rao met her and announced his party's support for her.
Mayawati's entry into the political turmoil over the India-US civil nuclear deal has started to worry the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and its supporters.
Both the Congress and its new friend Samajwadi Party fear that the Bahujan Samajwadi Party supremo would poach their parliamentarians.
Samajwadi loss
On Saturday, Samajwadi Party's general secretary and Rajya Sabha (Upper House) MP, Shahid Siddiqui supported Mayawati.
Siddiqui, who attended a breakfast meeting at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence, drove to Mayawati's Delhi house after that to declare his allegiance to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.
"Since last month, I was feeling suffocated in the party. And I was forced to support the deal. This deal is against the Muslims and India. This deal will make us the slave of the US and lead us to darkness," Siddiqui said. "The government should go."
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