Mayawati makes inroads in Mulayam8217;s constituency

ETAWAH, June 20: In an astute political move, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, yesterday made a dent in Defence Minister Mulayam Sing...

ETAWAH, June 20: In an astute political move, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, yesterday made a dent in Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav8217;s territory by granting the status of tehsil to Jaswantnagar, his home constituency. The announcement came at a rally which was held to counter Mulayam8217;s rally in Lucknow yesterday.

Mulayam8217;s native village, Saifai, which is only 20 km from Jaswantnagar, had been made a tehsil by him about three years ago. While Saifai was developed into a 8220;model town8221; equipped with a modern sport stadium, several guest houses, an airstrip, a degree college, a swimming pool and an engineering college, Jaswantnagar was completely ignored.

8220;I am not withdrawing the status of tehsil from Saifai because it was not granted with Mulayam8217;s money but with the tax-payers8217; money,8221; said the Chief Minister while sanctioning grants worth over Rs 2.5 crore for development of Etawah.

All the while she was keeping a watch on Mulayam8217;s rally. 8220;My helicopter hovered over Mulayam8217;s rally in Lucknow twice. There were no more than 10,000 persons, and here you can very well see a sea of humans, at least three lakh,8221; she declared amid thunderous applause.

8220;Mulayam ki rajniti bas dus hazar aadmi laane ke baad khatam ho gayee,8221; Mulayam is politically finished since he could not attract more than 10,000 people, Mayawati said in a triumphant tone. She said, 8220;Hulla bolne wale chup ho gaye. Muthibhar logon se kya hulla bola jayega?8221; Those crying for a Hulla Bol8217; stir by the Samajwadi Party have fallen silent because a handful of people cannot do much she said.

Showering her largesse on the pocket borough of the Defence Minister, she sanctioned Rs 1 crore for a hospital and 500 handpumps besides clearing a proposal for an overbridge. She also couldn8217;t resist changing the names of a number of Government buildings in the district and named them after ideologues of the BSP.No halla at rally 8220;We don8217;t want to invoke Article 356 against the Uttar Pradesh Government. The public pressure generated by our Hulla Bol8217; rally will itself cause the Government to fall,8221; Samajwadi Party chief and Defence Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav said here on Wednesday.

If public pressure is the only criterion for the survival or fall of a government, then Mulayam Singh failed in his gambit as the crowd at Mayawati8217;s Etawah rally was at least thrice more than at Mulayam8217;s rally. Transporters, fearing state reprisal, refused to lend buses for Mulayam8217;s rally.