Friday, November 30, 2012

From CM to PM in one jump?

Mayawati is now eyeing to become the Prime Minister. Her records show that it would be difficult to stop her

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati was never known for her courteous or suave behaviour. She always had a reputation of being an arrogant and ruthlessly ambitious politician. She recently added another chapter to her reputation by refusing to lend land for construction of a Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Rae Bareli – the parliamentary constituency of UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi – barely two days before Sonia Gandhi was supposed to lay its foundation stone. Though she returned the land to railways five days later – primarily because of a new legislation that authorises Railways to acquire any land for development purpose – she once again demonstrated she cared two hoots if she needed to prove a point. In fact, she baffled political observers in 2003, when after falling out with coalition partner, BJP, within a year of taking over as CM, she decided to dissolve the State Assembly. The BJP then propped up her bĂȘte noire, Mulayam Singh Yadav as CM. An unfazed Mayawati, bereft of trappings of an official post – campaigned hard for three years and secured a clear majority on her own in 2006. People might wonder about sagacity of her political decisions, but she is never in doubt about what she was doing and the consequences.

Her fourth innings as CM was bound to be stormy and more ruthless than ever since this is the first time her government didn’t need BJP’s crutches. She started off by ordering inquiries into decisions taken by Mulayam Singh. But that was just the beginning. As Left Front withdrew support from the UPA government at the Centre and Mulayam’s party extended support to the UPA, Mayawati seized the “opportunity of her life.” In the run up to the Vote of Confidence at the Centre, she found a host of leaders – from Left stalwarts Prakash Karat & AB Bardhan to TDP’s Chandra Babu Naidu and from Janata Dal (S) Chief, HD Deve Gowda to Rashtriya Lok Dal Chief, Ajit Singh, queuing up at her doorstep.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

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