The original BSP factor

Diamonds are a girl8217;s best friend, they say. Birthdays, too, can be quite useful. For a politician who was until the other day in bad odour for her role in the infamous Taj Heritage Corridor scam, BSP President Mayawati certainly managed to get a lot out of her birthday celebrations on Thursday, what with the Capital8217;s most powerful denizens knocking at her door with elaborate bouquets, gifts, kind words of support and promptly proceeding to eat out of her hand.

Let8217;s just say that with a General Election in the air, the original BSP factor 8212; not Bijli Sadak Pani this time but Bahujan Samaj Party 8212; has kicked in. Being coy is no virtue in a universe that believes in working hard and playing harder to strike the right coalitions. The possibility of gaining power at the Centre through some fancy footwork is enough to dissipate past prejudices and dissolve old egos. Everybody8217;s Holy Grail at the moment is the Dalit Vote. Sonia Gandhi, in her new found zeal to stitch up a grand coalition against the NDA, was the first in the queue with an enormous bouquet that couldn8217;t have expressed her inner desires better. Bearing a smaller bouquet 8212; commensurate perhaps with the BJP8217;s reduced chances of winning the lady over to its fold 8212; was the party spokesman, the ever verbal Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi. The CPM8217;s indestructible Harkishen Singh Surjeet brought up the rear. The three birthday party guests together signified the old adage that in politics there are no permanent enemies.

How this tableau plays out, as the winter8217;s exertions are replaced by summer8217;s political campaigning, we will soon know, but for the moment Mayawati is too shrewd a politician to show her hand. The issue of political partners will have to be seen from the regional and national levels, she said. Not to speak of the village, the global, and the Mulayam Singh Yadav levels, of course.