Cracks in the coalition

The Ambedkar Park being constructed in Lucknow at a cost of Rs 50 crore, the Parivartan Chowk at a cost of Rs 2 crore, the creation of five new districts within a month and naming all of them after prominent Dalit social reformers are directed towards only one goal: instilling a sense of pride among Dalits all over the country and in turn getting bagful of votes.

It is the BJP which has had to bear the cost of Mayawati8217;s overt Dalitisation8217; of Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati8217;s district-creation spree has hurt a prominent section of BJP supporters. Some saints in Chitrakoot, the new district which has been rechristened Chhatrapati Shahuji Nagar, after Maharashtra8217;s great social reformer, have threatened self-immolation if the name of the district is not changed again. Chitrakoot being associated with Lord Rama, has a religio-historical significance while no one knows anything about Shahuji, says a State BJP leader.

But that is precisely the reason for Mayawati naming the districts after little-known Dalit reformers. 8220;If they were as famous as Jawaharlal Nehru or Mahatma Gandhi, there was no need for us to popularise them,8221; claims State BSP President Dayaram Pal. The move will pay off for the BSP in other States as well, especially in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, claims another BSP leader.

The BJP, meanwhile, is lying inert under Mayawati8217;s onslaught, waiting patiently for its turn to govern. The party8217;s most prominent leader, Kalyan Singh, who has been projected as Chief Minister-in-waiting is fuming. While touring far-flung districts in the State, he doesn8217;t lose an opportunity to hit out at Mayawati and her policies but once in Lucknow, he maintains a studied silence, keeping probing journalists at a distance. 8220;Saheb ghar par nahin hain8221; He is not at home is the standard reply of his servants. Singh was the first BJP leader who came out openly against Mayawati during her first tenure as Chief Minister in 1995, criticising both her mass transfers and the Periyar Mela. Singh had accused her of taking Rs 500 crore to effect key bureaucratic changes.

In the post-poll scenario in October last year, with no party getting a clear majority, BJP leaders led by Atal Behari Vajpayee, Lalji Tandon and the late Brahma Dutt Dwivedi, had almost decided to give outside support to the BSP Government but for Kalyan Singh8217;s rebellious posture. Singh set the tone by claiming 8220;there cannot be two Chief Ministers in one State and I have yet not given up my claim to the coveted post8221;.

Probably this was the reason why Kalyan was not consulted while finalising the BJP-BSP pact to form the government in Uttar Pradesh. He was not even included in the BSP-BJP steering committee formed to monitor governance in the State.

An incensed Singh launched his tirade against Mayawati once again from his home district Aligarh, which was split by Mayawati and the new district named Mahamayanagar after Gautam Buddha8217;s mother. Singh, a Lodh Rajput by caste, wanted it to be named after an erstwhile Lodh Ruler, Avanti Bai. DIFFERENCES have also started cropping within the BJP over the support to Mayawati8217;s Government. The Kalyan Singh camp believes that being equal partner in the Government, the BJP should be consulted by the Chief Minister before every policy announcement while the other camp led by PWD Minister Kalraj Mishra believes in waiting patiently for its own turn dictate terms to the administration.

Kalyan Singh believes in keeping the BSP in check if the BJP wants to keep its vote bank comprising mainly upper castes and OBCs intact. 8220;The damage done by Mayawati during her six months can8217;t be repaired by the BJP even it were to rule the State for the next six years,8221; says a minister close to Kalyan Singh.

Kalyan faces another threat to his Chief Ministerial ambitions, again from within his party as a section of senior ministers have started rooting for an upper caste chief minister after Mayawati to placate the sentiments of their vote bank. Kalyan being a Lodh, a backward caste, does not fit the bill and hence the seat might go to either PWD Minister Kalraj Mishra, Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon or State BJP President Raj Nath Singh. With one of the upper caste Chief Ministerial candidates claiming that the BJP had not decided who would be next Chief Minister as it is the MLAs and not Central leaders who will elect him, the alarm bells have already sounded for Kalyan Singh. This was another reason for Kalyan wanting immediate elections and for others to give 8220;blind support8221; to Mayawati till their turn came.

IF the BJP is a divided house, so is the BSP. At least two senior party leaders, including Bhagwat Pal, the State party president till about a fortnight ago, raised the banner of rebellion against the Chief Minister. They accused her of adopting a dictatorial attitude. Mayawati8217;s response was to order Estate Department officials to evict Pal from his Government bungalow while the latter was away in Delhi.

Ironically, two of Pal8217;s predecessors, Raj Bahadur and Jung Bahadur Patel, too had similar unceremonious exits from the party. Both joined Mulayam Singh Yadav8217;s Samajwadi Party: Raj Bahadur barely hours before Mayawati was sworn in as Chief Minister in June 1995 and Patel, at the fall of her Government in October that year.

Incidentally, all three ex-presidents of the State BSP were committed party workers for over two decades and it was their growing clout within the party, resented by Mayawati, which led to their unceremonious ouster. Pre-empting Mayawati8217;s move, Pal has already announced that Mayawati might accuse him of being hand-in-glove with the Samajwadi Party.

Similarly, an influential Socialist leader, Harsha Vardhan, a Thakur by caste, roped in by Mayawati to contest from Maharajganj, has turned against her after she announced his expulsion at a public rally last week. Vardhan, a one-time close associate of George Fernandes, has asked BSP President Kanshi Ram to explain why he was not issued a show-cause notice before being expelled from the party. He has also threatened to approach the Election Commission seeking de-recognition of BSP on the ground that it did not have inner-party democracy. With the BSP not having completed its organisational elections, its status with the EC is anyway suspect.

Will both parties survive their internal contradictions to govern the State? The jury on that is still out but the future of the State seems decidely grim.