05-13-2007, 01:58 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>With Maya comes trepidation at Centre </b>
Pioneer.com
Navin Upadhyay | New Delhi
The remarkable rise of BSP in Uttar Pradesh is bound to create a sense of instability in the corridors of power in Delhi.
With Mayawati not dependent on the Congress for Government formation in UP, the party will have reason to watch her next political move with trepidation.Â
<b>BSP founder Kanshi Ram's quote that "political instability and mid-term elections help us to grow," has been the political theme of Mayawati who has grown from strength to strength in successive elections.</b>
The BSP had won 12 seats and logged 9.44 per cent votes in the 1991 UP Assembly polls. In 1996, her vote share jumped to 19.64 per cent with 67 seats. The trend continued in 2002 when she got 98 seats and aggregated 23.06 per cent votes. This time, both her vote share and seats have risen phenomenally.
Similarly, in the 1991 General Election, she won just one Lok Sabha seat from UP. But she added five more in 1996. In 1998, she had to be content with just four. The very next year, however, the BSP won 14 seats and after five years returned with 19.
<b>In the backdrop of such a consistent growth story, the prospect of Mayawati evoking Kanshi Ram's mantra and forcing another mid-term poll would keep the UPA on tenterhooks. Its experience in UP and at the Centre has shown that Mayawati has been one of its most untrustworthy allies.</b>
At the same time, knowing her emphasis on systematic consolidation and gradual expansion, Mayawati may not make an immediate move to destabilise the Centre. She may wait to capitalise on the gains made in UP to expand her political base in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Bihar before turning her wrath on the Centre.
The BSP has 19 MPs in Lok Sabha and if the current result of the Assembly polls is translated into Lok Sabha seats, she could hope to win 45 seats in the next General Elections.
Mayawati's exit may not lead to the immediate collapse of the UPA Government but it will, indeed, leave it precariously on a wafer thin majority of five to six. The longevity of a such an unstable Government will always be hostage to the whims of regional allies and, in turn, derail governance.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Mayawati has never hidden her prime ministerial ambitions. </span>With little to suggest that president APJ Abdul Kalam's dream of a two-party system could become reality in the near future, if Mayawati returns to Lok Sabha with 50-60 MPs, she could be a stronger contender than HD Deve Gowda and HK Gujaral for the Prime Ministerial slot.<b> Hinting that Delhi is her next target, Mayawati told her party workers on Sunday that the next General Election would be crucial for the party. </b>
She said an impressive showing would catapult the BSP on the national scene. In a recent speech, she had said that her cadres would, one day, like to see her as Prime Minister of India.
In the coming months, Mayawati's political maneuvers will shape the direction of national politics.
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Pioneer.com
Navin Upadhyay | New Delhi
The remarkable rise of BSP in Uttar Pradesh is bound to create a sense of instability in the corridors of power in Delhi.
With Mayawati not dependent on the Congress for Government formation in UP, the party will have reason to watch her next political move with trepidation.Â
<b>BSP founder Kanshi Ram's quote that "political instability and mid-term elections help us to grow," has been the political theme of Mayawati who has grown from strength to strength in successive elections.</b>
The BSP had won 12 seats and logged 9.44 per cent votes in the 1991 UP Assembly polls. In 1996, her vote share jumped to 19.64 per cent with 67 seats. The trend continued in 2002 when she got 98 seats and aggregated 23.06 per cent votes. This time, both her vote share and seats have risen phenomenally.
Similarly, in the 1991 General Election, she won just one Lok Sabha seat from UP. But she added five more in 1996. In 1998, she had to be content with just four. The very next year, however, the BSP won 14 seats and after five years returned with 19.
<b>In the backdrop of such a consistent growth story, the prospect of Mayawati evoking Kanshi Ram's mantra and forcing another mid-term poll would keep the UPA on tenterhooks. Its experience in UP and at the Centre has shown that Mayawati has been one of its most untrustworthy allies.</b>
At the same time, knowing her emphasis on systematic consolidation and gradual expansion, Mayawati may not make an immediate move to destabilise the Centre. She may wait to capitalise on the gains made in UP to expand her political base in Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Bihar before turning her wrath on the Centre.
The BSP has 19 MPs in Lok Sabha and if the current result of the Assembly polls is translated into Lok Sabha seats, she could hope to win 45 seats in the next General Elections.
Mayawati's exit may not lead to the immediate collapse of the UPA Government but it will, indeed, leave it precariously on a wafer thin majority of five to six. The longevity of a such an unstable Government will always be hostage to the whims of regional allies and, in turn, derail governance.
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>Mayawati has never hidden her prime ministerial ambitions. </span>With little to suggest that president APJ Abdul Kalam's dream of a two-party system could become reality in the near future, if Mayawati returns to Lok Sabha with 50-60 MPs, she could be a stronger contender than HD Deve Gowda and HK Gujaral for the Prime Ministerial slot.<b> Hinting that Delhi is her next target, Mayawati told her party workers on Sunday that the next General Election would be crucial for the party. </b>
She said an impressive showing would catapult the BSP on the national scene. In a recent speech, she had said that her cadres would, one day, like to see her as Prime Minister of India.
In the coming months, Mayawati's political maneuvers will shape the direction of national politics.
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