No guests from Uttar Pradesh

But Behenji didnt do so well,not in Delhi,not in Uttar Pradesh. Kailashs loyalty,however,remains unwavering. Us Dalits will never leave her. She is our only leader, he says. I dont blame her. I blame the party workers who failed.

Few of the said party workers are visible. No leaders throng here,no cars line the streets and no phones ring. Behenji isnt coming to Delhi. Is there even a need of a third front meeting now, senior party leader Ambeth Rajan said. No,nobody is coming.

Its equally quiet at the Samajwadi Partys state office on Copernicus Lane even though the party managed to clinch some 29 seats. A television set blared the election results in an empty room. The SP,like the BSP,had contested on all seven seats in Delhi with the candidates claiming they had done the groundwork. But the Congress swept each one of them. As the results started pouring in,the guards played cards outside the office. It would be an easy day. Outside,the faint sound of drum beats from outside the Congress office a few kilometres away pulses in the air.