Mayawati may rock Third Front

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's "arrogant" attitude may come in the way of realising her ambition of becoming prime minister.

Differences have cropped up in the fledgling United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), touted as the Third Front in national politics over projecting Mayawati as its prime ministerial candidate.

Even the Left Front, which was instrumental in getting Mayawati join the UNPA ahead of July 22 trust vote in Parliament, is having second thoughts about backing her for the country's top post.

Mayawati's recent announcement that her Bahujan Samaj Party would contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats of Uttar Pradesh has become a bone of contention among the UNPA constituents.

According to Left Front sources, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat expressed his concerns during his recent meeting with Mayawati in the national capital.

Her announcement has forced one possible new entrant into the UNPA, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), to enter into a dialogue with both the Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party for possible poll alliance.

Karat was instrumental in first getting Mayawati to shake hands with the UNPA constituents and then bring in RLD chief Ajit Singh to side with her ahead of the trust vote.

Mayawati's attempt to placate the Left Front by offering a seat each to the CPI-M and CPI failed to impress the Marxists.

"She will require the support of many parties to become the next prime minister and will have to realise that unlike Uttar Pradesh where her party has absolute majority, she will have to head an alliance. One needs to make adjustments in an alliance and unilateral announcements will do her no good," said a senior CPI leader.

Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, who heads the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), expressed his reservations about projecting Mayawati as their prime ministerial candidate during a meeting with Telugu Desam chief N. Chandrababu Naidu.

It is believed that Chautala made it clear that his party would walk out of the UNPA if his reservations are not taken into consideration.

Chautala is angry at Mayawati's announcement since his party has plans for contesting a few seats in western Uttar Pradesh region bordering his home state Haryana. INLD was expecting Mayawati to enter into barter by offering the BSP two of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana.