No tie-up with Cong: Mayawati

To put across positive signals to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati handed out a rude political jolt to the Congress by denying the speculations about the BSP-Congress alliance for the Lok Sabha polls.

The dinner meeting of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi with Mayawati on Saturday had fuelled speculation about the tie-up between the parties.

But mercurial Mayawati today called a press conference to deny the media reports of the BSP-Congress alliance and said no such alliance was ever discussed.

"We can strengthen the secular forces even without forging any alliance," said former UP chief minister in an attempt to put the Congress on the tenterhooks.

The Congress leadership has been banking on Mayawati's political appeal in UP to recover the lost political ground.

Obviously, Mayawati's snub is calculated to make the Congress realise the fact that the party had been reduced a marginal political player in the country's largest state.

This is a clear signal that Mayawati would give less political space to the Congress even if the alliance comes through.

At the same time, Mayawati's move is being seen as an attempt to convey a positive message to the BJP, which is averse to the prospects of the BSP-Congress alliance.

In fact, the formidable social combination of Dalit-Muslim in wake of the Congress-BSP alliance is expected to change the political equations in the state.

Sources in the Congress say though Mayawati is convinced about getting Muslims' support after forging an alliance with the Congress, she is worried about keeping the BJP on the right side in view of the CBI probe against her role in the Taj Corridor controversy.

"She is averse to going whole hog against the BJP because of cases against her," said a senior Congress leader.

That the BJP camp was buoyed up by Mayawati's tantrums is evident by the decision of the party leadership to launch a series of campaigns in the state.

In a series of meetings held at the residence of BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu to draw the strategy on UP, the party leadership has finalised plans for rehabilitation of former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh in the BJP.

BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan has been assigned the task of holding discussions with Singh in Lucknow on Tuesday.

Sources in the BJP say the party has been planning to put up a grand show of the return of its former "Ayodhya hero" (as Kalyan Singh was known before he was sacked from the BJP) during the rally addressed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Ayodhya on February 7. "This will be an attempt to restore Kalyan Singh's honour," said a BJP leader.

With the BJP planning a series of hectic campaigns in UP this month, the political scenario in UP has also warmed up following consultation within the BJP's top leadership about the fate of 40 rebel BSP legislators who extended support to the Mulayam Singh Yadav government. If these legislators are disqualified, the Yadav government will fall.

But the party leadership fears that such a step might consolidate Yadav's support base and marginalise the BJP.

A section of BJP leaders, however, feel the party will pay a heavy cost if the Lok Sabha elections were held with Yadav as the chief minister.