Maya first run

Mayawati was unconcerned she had spurned Sonia’s offer of a pre-poll alliance. ‘‘Everyone said the reason I backed out was I wanted her to withdraw Congress support to Mulayam’s government in Lucknow. I told her we should go our separate ways only because the Congress could never transfer its votes to us while the BSP solidly went behind them. We learnt this the hard way in the 1996 polls in UP where the Congress benefited at our cost. I promised her after the elections, I would support her.’’

Mayawati took the moral high ground on not having a pre-poll alliance. ‘‘It was not just the Congress but several other parties like the BJP, which were wooing me,’’ she said. ‘‘The BJP’s messengers promised me everything, from settling the Taj issue in my favour to much else. But my concern was putting the bahujan samaj in the forefront, not my personal issues.’’

Mayawati not only pipped her arch rival, UP CM and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, to back an alternative secular government but also said she had no problem if the SP was part of the coalition. ‘‘As long as Mulayam is not DPM or PM, we will support such a coalition.’’

On the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati said she had never talked against Sonia on her foreign origin. She said she had no objections to Sonia becoming prime minister, as it was an ‘‘internal matter’’ of the Congress.