Laptop politics

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has zealous fans all over the world. But none of them can compete with UP chief minister Ram Prakash Gupta. Never mind if he is 76, and cannot distinguish a software from a hardware, he is much more enthusiastic about computers than any Net nerd of the X-generation. He has even discovered to his delight that computers have incredible memory storage, now the opposition cannot poke fun at him for his occasional memory lapse. But it is BillG who keeps haunting Guptaji. He will not give in simply because Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu and Karnataka CM S.M. Krishna got exclusive darshan of BillG. Those two must realise that they have tough competition from Guptaji. Did he not impress BillG during the chief ministerial marathon about UP8217;s pride, IIT Kanpur? He, perhaps, forgot that the IITs were central institutions. But since BillG kept harping about e-governance, Guptaji came up with a brilliant idea: he has decided to present all his MLAs with a laptop each.

The fact that the laptop sop is going to cost a whopping Rs 10 to Rs 15 crore to the state exchequer, already groaning under a Rs 70,000 crore pile of debt, hardly bothers Guptaji. If his guru, BillG, has decided to donate 95 per cent of his fabled billions to the world, why should Guptaji, his most important chela, be left far behind? But wait, isn8217;t that confusing between public and private money? Such subtle distinctions are only for the hair-splitting media types, not for Guptaji. But the million dollar question is whether the public distribution of laptops to all MLAs will help Guptaji pull through a victory in the forthcoming UP assembly elections? He must think it will, otherwise why would he distribute laptops to all the legislators, cutting across party lines. Who knows? BillG will also be happy, and some of the MLAs in the opposition might just decide to cross the floor and join his bandwagon. If Kalyan Singh could do it, by helping create the Loktantrik Congress, why not Guptaji?

Guptaji might live under the illusion that the laptops will deliver the magic, but not the other BJP strategists. The state party president, Kalraj Mishra, is desperately courting Mayawati of the BSP for an electoral alliance. A recently conducted opinion poll, considered sympathetic to the BJP, came up with devastating revelations: the BJP is likely to perform much worse than its last performance, and is unlikely to form a government on its own. The main reason: the Kalyan Singh factor. The same poll predicts that the BSP is likely to gain substantially over its last performance.

Although Mayawati continues to act as once bitten twice shy, yet in her heart of hearts she knows that this is the best bet to become the UP chief minister again. Will the BJP allow her that privilege? Maybe it will, what with Dalit leader Bangaru Laxman as its national president and the court-Dalit and -minorities slogan as its latest rhetoric. Given that the Congress has decided to Mandalise itself, with a new backward caste8217; UPCC president Sriprakash Jaiswal, a better bet for the BJP might be the revival of the time-tested upper caste-scheduled caste alliance. What should be, however, clear to the new computer convert UP chief minister is that he requires Mayawati8217;s BSP more than BillG in his hour of need.