NEW DELHI: The truce hammered out by BJP leader Atal Behari Vajpayee with UP Chief Minister Mavawali over dinner in Lucknow last week is likely to be temporary only. Although the BSP has agreed to tone down its controversial Periyar mela following Vajpayee’s intervention on behalf of his party, BJP circles are ‘waiting with bated breath to see what tick BSP supremo Kanshi Ram has up his sleeve to needle them.
For it is Kanshi Ram who has decided to take the BJP head on even at the cost of bringing down the Mayawati Government.
Kanshi Ram left for Lucknow last Friday along with Ms. Mayawati who flew into Delhi in the moming to atiend a prescheduled meeting with the Punjab Haryana Delhi Chamber of Commerce. Before the meeting, the two leaders were closeted together for protracted discussions.
It is not clear whether Ms. Mayawati’s climb down in front of Vajpayee had Kanshi Ram’s clearance. However, an official of the UP Government confirmed that the statue of Periyar which as to have been i stalled at Parivartan Chowk in Lucknow much to the anger of the VHP would not be unveiled during the Periyar mela.
The official said that the statue was still being cast and it would take several months to be ready.
The decision not to install the statue appears to be the compromise the BSP hi as offered to soothe the BIP’s ruffled feathers, However, Kanshi Ram’s presence in Lucknow during the mela is giving the BJP jitters as it is not sure what to expect from the temperamental BSP leader, Kanshi Ram’s anger over Ms. Mayawati’s growing closeness to the BJP is well known by now. In fact, Kanshi Ram’s hardline stand on the Periyar mela is said to be the result of his desire to scuttle any kind of understanding Ms. Mayawatimay have been trying to work out with the BJP to keep her Government going.
Sources close to Kanshi Ram admitted that the BSP supremo was consumed with the desire to “teach a Tesson” to his protege as well as BJP leaders who he felt were bypassing him in their attempt to win Ms. Mayawati over to their side.
By forcing the BJP and Ms. Mayawati to accept that the Periyar mela would be held as scheduled in Lucknow, Kanshi Ram appears to have won his point that it is he who calls the shots in the BJPBSP relationship and not his “cheli” ashe likes to call the Chief Minister.
Having driven home his message, Kanshi Ram is perhaps ready to concede a point or two to the BJP. Hence the cancellation of the decision to install the Periyar statue.
However, those who know Kanshi Ram feel that has just begun his game of baiting the BJP. The BSP leader is said to have made up his mind not have any truce with the BJP during the forthcoming elections. He would thus like to have his Government brought down on a ideological issue so that he keeps his image with the Dalits intact. Kanshi Ram’s efforts in the next few weeks are likely to be geared towards stepping up confrontation with the BJP, pushing them to a point where it will become untenable for them to carry on supporting the Mayawati Government.
In the meantime, he has been holding discussions with representatives on behalf of SP leader Mulayam Singh and the Janata Dal work out some sort of electoral understanding.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 22, 1995
