In her talks with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and other interlocutors, BSP chief Mayawati is learnt to have demanded that she be projected as the prime ministerial candidate of a ‘‘secular alliance’’ in the run-up to the polls — a demand the Congress finds impossible to accept. According to well placed sources, Mayawati did not baldly state ‘‘make me PM’’ but made her intention clear. Her line has been: ‘‘if you want the support of the Dalits, then why don’t you project a Dalit as your prime ministerial candidate?’’ In response, Sonia Gandhi is believed to have told her that no prime ministerial candidate was being projected by them at all. The candidate would be decided only after the elections and would depend on the results. But the BSP leader, sources said, has so far refused to accept the line that she too could be one of the prospective candidates in a post-poll scenario if non-NDA forces were in a position to form the government. The Congress, which is still desperate to have some kind of an alliance with the BSP in Uttar Pradesh, does not want to publicly disclose, or reject, Mayawati’s demand for fear of alienating the Dalits. The party feels that Mayawati’s demand is just an excuse not to tie up with the Congress. A Congressman, who did not want to be named, said: ‘‘She is under the influence of the BJP. The BJP must have told her if they want you so much, why don’t you ask them to make you prime minister.’’ While the Congress has remained silent about the ‘‘Dalit PM’’ issue, its close ally and RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav recently sprung a surprise by naming Ram Vilas Paswan as a possible prime ministerial candidate. His statement is likely to have been made in light of Mayawati’s demand. After all, Paswan too is a Dalit leader and, unlike the BSP chief, a pillar of the still nebulous ‘secular’ front. But Paswan, in turn, has stated that Sonia Gandhi, as leader of the largest party, should be the prime minister. The Congress, meanwhile, has still not given up hope of a last-minute alliance, or at least seat adjustment, with the BSP. A final decision, partymen said, would be taken in the next ‘‘three or four days.’’ Former UPCC chief Salman Khurshid who has been pushing for an alliance with the BSP told reporters today that ‘‘we are having a meaningful dialogue with BSP and other parties. Whether the dialogue is successful or not will be known when the top leadership comes to a conclusion.’’
