Maya memsaab, what now?

Moreover, her arch rival Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had been lying low since his electoral defeat, can be trusted to give her a tough time. He will have his pound of flesh from the Congress — an important position in the Union Government — and use this position to settle scores with Mayawati.

By joining the UNPA, Mayawati has got a host of allies, including the Left parties. But barring the Jat-dominated Rashtriya Lok Dal, none has any presence in UP, although the RLD has a limited presence in western UP. Besides, Ajit Singh is known as someone who has no problem switching loyalities. Mayawati had burnt her bridges with the BJP long back.

Akhilesh Pratap Singh, state Congress spokesman, alleged that Mayawati spearheaded the campaign to topple the UPA Government only to mount pressure on the Centre to close the corruption cases against her. He added that Mayawati is already nervous about the new political equations emerging in the state after the trust vote.

“With the defeat of the forces opposed to the UPA Government, Mayawati should apologise to the people and admit that she worked beyond her brief in attempting to topple the Government at the Centre,” he said.

Samajwadi Party leaders, who were at the receiving end of the might of the state ever since Mayawati took over as the CM in May 2007, are confident that the political scenario in the state would soon change to their advantage.

“Mayawati will be held accountable before the people for the thousands of crores of public money looted by the BSP ministers from the state exchequer during last 14 months of its tenure,” said Rajendra Chowdhary, SP spokesman.

However, some political observers believe that Mayawati has emerged as the biggest gainer from the political crisis sparked off by the withdrawal of support to the UPA by the Left parties.

“The emergence of Mayawati on the national scene is a fitting reply to the Congress and their allies who were accusing us of being hand in glove with the BJP. In one stroke, the Left parties have demolished the dreams of Lal Krishna Advani. In Mayawati now, there is one more prime ministerial candidate,” said Ashok Mishra, former state secretary of the CPI.

“The UNPA created by Mulayam Singh Yadav for realising his political ambitions has been handed over to the BSP chief on a platter,” said Ashutosh Mishra, a political analyst. He said the Congress stood to lose heavily if this combination went to the next Lok Sabha polls as another front, like the UPA and the NDA.