Ajit gives Maya ticket for Lucknow trip

Lucknow today kept waiting for Mayawati but she remained stuck in New Delhi. She has to meet Governor Vishnu Kant Shastri for staking her claim to form a government, and couldn’t have gone ahead without Ajit Singh’s letter of support.

The RLD has 14 members in the UP assembly. Its support is vital for the BSP-BJP alliance to prove its majority. The 403-member House has an effective strength of 399. The BSP has 97 members and the BJP 88. The smaller allies of the BJP have six members — two each of the Janata

Dal (United) and the Loktantrik Congress and one each of the Lok Janshakti Party and the Hindu Mahasabha.

According to sources, as part of the UP deal, the BJP and the BSP had got 28 ministerial berths each. Mayawati had asked the BJP to settle the claims of its alliance partners within its share. Though the initial understanding between them was to limit the number of ministers to 55, they had increased it a bit to enable the BSP to accommodate maximum number of its Muslim legislators to prevent their leaving the party and also facilitate a liberal inclusion of BJP’s allies in the ministry.

Therefore, the BJP had decided to keep the number of its ministers at 20 and give five berths to the RLD and one each to the Janata Dal(U), the Loktantrik Congress and the Lok Janshakti Party.

Of the five RLD ministers, two are to get the cabinet rank and three the minister of state designation, one of them with independent charge. Sources in the RLD said Ajit Singh had wanted one more berth, faced with the prospect of a split in his flock. Sources in the BJP said the five berths offered to him were in excess of what he should get in proportion to his strength.

The BJP had earlier prevailed upon Mayawati to go in for a coordination committee and shed her opposition to the inclusion of representatives of the RLD and other parties in it. The proposed seven-member committee, headed by Mayawati, was slated to have two representatives each from the BSP and the BJP and one each from the RLD and the smaller allies.

With Mayawati’s swearing in as chief minister never in doubt, there was rejoicing in Lucknow.

Crackers were busted and slogans of zindabad raised by supporters of Lalji Tandon on his arrival after a prolonged stay in New Delhi.

However, the house situated diagonally opposite to his on Mall Avenue, bearing the nameplate of Mayawati, and the BSP office wore a deserted look.

The legislators of both parties have started returning to Lucknow. Mayawati will reach Lucknow tomorrow and both partners will address a joint press conference to formally announce the tie-up.

Senior state BJP leaders who were in Delhi for the past few days have returned but the place which appears to have become the new centre of power is the official residence of Lalji Tandon, Rakhi brother of Mayawati, who, along with Kalraj, was asked by the party leadership to finalise the nitty-gritty.

‘‘We hope that Mayawati will not repeat the mistakes of the previous two terms,’’ said Tandon.

(with input from AMIT SHARMA)