http://www.dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=vyas%2Fvyas180.txt&writer=vyas
Dealing with Maya's rise Hari Shankar Vyas After the UP results, Rahul Gandhi was so upset that he closeted himself in his house. Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Vadera spent three days trying to cheer him up. But some, on the other hand, say that the Uttar Pradesh results were as per Rahul Gandhi's expectations and that he is now busy meeting candidates and focusing on organisational revamp. The responsibility for the next Lok Sabha elections will fall on his shoulders. He is the future of the Congress and will remain so. However, most Congress MPs are worried about the future of the party. As for the BJP, its UP leaders were in Delhi the other day parroting the version of their Central leaders. They all said that the BSP windfall did not come because of social engineering but due to the anti-Mulayam Singh factor. The day the results were out, the BJP brass went into an emergent huddle wherein a worried Atal Bihari Vajpayee emphasised how there was an urgent need to think of the future and work on preparedness. "Let the reports come from the State and then we shall do a review," was the refrain. Rahul image saving The Congress is trying its best to prove that Rahul Gandhi has come out of the UP elections in flying colours. Mediapersons were called and told how much the party has benefited from Rahul's hard work. Kapil Sibal even went on to say on TV that the party had won 17 seats in the last election and now it has won 22, making it a measure of Rahul's success. It should be noted here that in the last elections Congress had won 25 seats, but, eight MLAs had left the party. Hence, the 17 comparison by Sibal. Brahmin card Mayawati has her sight set on the post of Prime Minister. She has told her party leaders to work in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh. Satish Mishra is in contact with Brahmin leaders in these States. She has also said that if the Congress nominates a Brahmin for Presidentship, the BSP will extend its support. This is a well considered strategy. Sources say that Mayawati holds ND Tiwari and Motilal Vora in high esteem. She still remembers the help Vora had given her as UP Governor. Hence, while Mayawati is busy wooing the Brahmins of north India, the Congress and its durbaris are toying with Brahmin names like RS Pathak and Pranab Mukherjee. Big change The UP election has changed the nation's political environment. First, Mayawati's victory has given the formation of the Third Front a death blow. Second, it has affected the Muslim vote-bank politics. Now UP Muslims need not worry about the BJP. It will come as no surprise if in the future the Muslims completely change sides and switch over from the Samajwadi Party to the BSP. Also, the importance of BJP in NDA will now diminish. Similarly, the position of the Congress in the UPA has been jolted. Many smaller parties feel that if Mayawati wins 50 seats in Lok Sabha elections due in 2009, it will be the centre point of political polarisation. Even for the Presidential elections, the BSP is in a deciding position. It is because of Mayawati's social engineering that Dalit leader Sushil Kumar Shinde's chances of becoming the President are slim and now the Congress is considering name of Brahmins. Hero No 1 As soon as Amar Singh got out of Lucknow's power corridor, Mayawati got Sashank Shekhar in her office. Though he is not an IAS officer, he has been made the supreme boss of the IAS community. He wanted to become the Chief Secretary, but the Department of Personnel rose up in arms. So, Mayawati settled for him being made the Cabinet Secretary. This means he is in charge of all Cabinet meetings. The Chief Secretary will be reporting to him. >From being a pilot of State aircraft to Secretary and now Cabinet Secretary, Shekhar's rise is what dreams are made of. At one time, he was very close to Mulayam Singh. He was even close to Rajnath Singh and now he is Mayawati's No 1 officer. And as a little bird says, Shekhar's presence will carry on the history of wheeling dealing aka Amar Singh. Losers all around Sharad Yadav persuaded the BJP to have a poll alliance with Apna Dal as Nitish Kumar worked his charm on the Kurmis. Beni Prasad, too, has formed a separate party on the Kurmi vote-bank. However, Apna Dal chief Sone Lal Patel lost the election and so did his wife. Beni Prasad forfeited his deposit in Ayodhya and his son Rakesh Verma lost too. It was because of Beni Prasad and his Kurmi politics that Arif Mohammad Khan left the BJP, even though he was very close to the RSS chief KS Sudarshan. Arif's wife contested from Bahriach and lost. And then there is Kalyan Singh, the Lodh leader. It is said that in the Debai seat, there are 12,500 Lodh voters. Kalyan Singh's son Rajvir Singh contested the election, but lost. Kalyan Singh had also distributed 375 tickets to his followers, None won.
