http://in.news.yahoo.com/071028/32/6mipl.html
Mon, Oct 29 Maya hopes to caste a spell in HP By HT Monday October 29, 01:16 AM MAYAWATI'S BSP is keen on repeating the magic of its social engineering experiment in Himachal Pradesh. The party, which has announced it will contest all 68 seats, promised to make the elections a triangular contest. The BSP's 'social remix' had ensured that it swept the Uttar Pradesh elections in May, taking along, not just the Dalits, but also the upper castes. The party believes it will gain from the anti-incumbency factor against the Congress and the infighting in the BJP. The party chief plans to tour the state to address at least six meetings and has announced candidates for the three tribal seats going to polls on November 14 - Kinnaur, Bharmour and Lahual-Spiti. But Mayawati has set her eyes on Kangra - the biggest and most politically significant district with 16 MLAs. The stakes are high for the BJP as it is counting on the district to form the next government. Kangra goes to polls with the rest of the state on December 19. The Congress is looking at old Himachal areas to give it the numbers to retain power. If one goes by the states' electoral history, it is easy to understand what gives Mayawati the confidence to jump into the fray. The Congress and the BJP have remained the two dominant powers in Himachal Pradesh, but a third front - though not very successful - has often played the spoiler for both. The BJP-Janata Dal combine routed the Congress in 1990, eight years later, a post-poll alliance between the BJP and Sukh Ram's Himachal Vikas Congress (HVC) ousted Congress from power despite it emerging as the single-largest party. The HVC had got only four seats but Sukh Ram played kingmaker by installing Prem Kumar Dhumal as chief minister in the wake of a hung Assembly. The emergence of the BSP has once again raised the vision of a third political force. Mayawati's man in Himachal Pradesh is former Congressman Vijay Singh Mankotia who joined the BSP early this year. He hails from Kangra. Mankotia is counting on disgruntled leaders in the Congress and the BJP to work for the BSP. "We are confident we will make an impact and are contesting on all the seats. We will replicate the BSP's success of social engineering in Himachal also."
