The BJP top brass knew three days ago that Mayawati was going to 10, Janpath to have dinner with Sonia Gandhi on February 15 and some of them had mentioned it in private conversations then. Most Congress leaders had not been aware of the impending meeting, which lasted two hours. Mayawati finally left before midnight to avoid the waiting media. Officially, the Congress took the line today that ‘‘the two leaders discussed the political situation,’’ and that ‘‘talks are still on’’ between them. But privately, Congress leaders are not very hopeful of an alliance with the BSP. It is not as if Mayawati ruled out an alliance during her dinner meeting with Sonia. The BSP chief is believed to have reiterated her demand for the Congress to withdraw support to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government in UP, among other things. Mayawati has almost finalised all the 80 seats in UP. Some BJP observers argue she is using her meeting with Sonia to mount pressure on the BJP to sack the UP government. Only then would it be worthwhile for her to go it alone. This is an option the BJP is looking at with Kalyan Singh said to have indicated that polls to the LS and the UP Assembly could be held simultaneously. Mulayam could be in trouble if the Congress withdraws support and the Speaker of the Assembly, a BJP man, derecognises the BSP split. Thirdly, with no one knowing which way things will turn out after the elections, Mayawati may not want to spoil her relations with the Congress. All smaller parties would like to keep their options open at this stage. After all, even Ajit Singh, whose party is in alliance with Mulayam in Lucknow called on Sonia a couple of weeks ago. Even if Mayawati has decided to go it alone in UP, she may want to give the impression that this is so because talks with the Congress have failed and not because she is under pressure from the BJP. She has to contend with the Muslim vote in UP and the minorities would like the regional parties to forge an alliance with the Congress which can help defeat the BJP nationally.
