Mayawati’s frontal attack against Congress: Hold on there is a disclaimer

New Delhi, Oct 4: BSP supremo Mayawati on Wednesday went all hog while declaring that her party would fight it alone in the Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.

While this has been seen as a setback for the formation of a grand alliance led by the Congress, one also be mindful of the fact that Mayawati has kept her equation with Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi intact.

At her presser, she said Sonia and Rahul have the right intentions, but other leaders do not. This is a clear indicator that she is in no mood to burn bridges with the top leaders. In her direct line of fire was Digivijaya Singh, who she termed as a BJP agent as he was afraid of the central agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate.

Leading psephologist, Dr. Sandeep Shastri tells OneIndia that this announcement by Mayawati definitely has a negative impact on the grand alliance. With a weakening Congress she sees herself playing a leading role, considering she comes from the all important state of Uttar Pradesh.

Dr. Shastri says that she is clearly testing the waters. She sees herself as a bigger player when compared to others such as Mamata Banerjee, whose presence is restricted to West Bengal alone. In that sense, if one were to look at it, then Mayawati considers herself to be an important player, he also adds.

Here it is a question of recognition. In the past if we have seen anti-BJP fronts coming up and they comprised state based parties. These parties want the Congress to recognise them, Dr. Shastri says.

He however adds that he does not see this situation play out in the 2019 elections at least as of now. It is currently a state based strategy. It would be difficult to comment on the all India strategy as of now as many parties in the state are in opposition against each other.

However the most important aspect of Mayawati's press conference was that she did not have anything bad to say about both Rahul and Sonia Gandhi. She has not burnt her bridges with them as yet and decided to play safe and keep all options open. Her prime targets were the state leaders and hence it would be hard to say that she has cut off all ties with the Congress, Dr. Shastri also adds.