Advantage BJP now

February 25: Kalyan should seek a fresh mandate and that this would be a cleaner option for the party already facing flak for the unprincipled manner in which it formed a Government in Lucknow four months ago. As days go by, the party will face increasing pressure from its constituency of the middle class.

But an early poll is not much of an option for Kalyan. It is bound to bring together the Congress-SP-BSP on a common platform next time and the seeds for this alliance were sown last week. Such a tie-up would have the BJP on the run in UP. Kalyan8217;s task is going to get increasingly difficult as time goes by.

After all, Naresh Aggarwal jumped to the other side, because he was unhappy with the Chief Minister8217;s 8220;arrogant8221; style of functioning. With a reputation for being personally clean, Kalyan is known to be 8220;tough and inflexible8221;, a euphemism for not allowing his Cabinet colleagues who broke away from the Congress 8220;a free hand8221; to rule in the inimitable style they are used to.