UP Governor gives Maya elbow room

But that hardly lifted the mood in the UP BJP, where the troubleshooter sent from Delhi Rajnath Singh was trying desperately to woo back rebels. ‘‘I have told the BJP MLAs (read dissidents) that the PM is ready to meet them to hear their grievances,’’ the party general secretary said, apparently after a long phone conversation with Vajpayee.

But the dissidents flatly refused the offer and stuck to their demand that all BJP members should quit the Mayawati ministry and the party should support it from outside.

‘‘There is no way that we can meet the PM now. Our demand is clear and the party should first accept it before initiating any fresh dialogue,’’ said Ganga Bhakt Singh, after a meeting of the forum formed by dissidents today. They are meeting again tomorrow to decide on a course of action.

In one good news for the party, BJP Shajahanpur MLA Mithilesh Kumar today denied reports he had withdrawn support to Mayawati. In a fax message to Shastri, he said he was surprised to know his name was being associated with the Independents who had met the Governor last night and given a list of those withdrawing support to the government. Another Independent named in the list, Mahesh Trivedi, has also pledged support to Mayawati since.

As Shastri said, in numbers, Mayawati still enjoys support of 210 MLAs in a House of 403. But the BJP realises that the moment the SP and Congress are able to set aside differences and strike a deal, that equation could fast disintegrate.

Rashtriya Kranti Party leader and ex-BJP chief minister Kalyan Singh predicts: ‘‘The moment the SP gets Congress support, the BJP will split in hours.’’

Today the rebel Independents claimed that two-three more of them would withdraw support to the Mayawati government tomorrow to mount pressure for convening a special session of the House.