In a swift coronation ceremony, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) vice-president and former UP Chief Minister Mayawati has been unanimously elected party national president, replacing the critically ill Kanshi Ram.Mayawati was elected unopposed by the BSP central general body at its meeting last Saturday in New Delhi. This followed a decision taken in Lucknow by the central executive committee under the then chairmanship of Kanshi Ram.Mayawati’s immediate task is two-fold: with five states going to polls in the next two months, she will have to single-handedly evolve a strategic electoral alliance. The BSP has a significant presence in four of them — given the sizeable Dalit presence there — and Mayawati’s partnership with any major political party could tilt the balance in its favour.In New Delhi today, BJP leaders Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Madan Lal Khurana met Mayawati at Batra hospital where Kanshi Ram is under treatment. Naqvi and Khurana, who had gone to call on Kanshi Ram, had a 45-minute meeting with Mayawati.‘‘We met Mayawati at the hospital when we went to see Kanshi Ram. We wished him speedy recovery and congratulated Mayawati on her election as party president,’’ Naqvi said. This is the first meeting between the BSP and BJP leaders ever since Mayawati broke the alliance in Uttar Pradesh and quit as Chief Minister in the wake of the Taj controversy.She has been attacking the BJP leadership and, at a rally in Bhopal on Sunday, she even trained guns at Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, warning the BJP that they would pay dearly the day the BSP made it to the Centre.
