LUCKNOW: Stitching a rainbow arrangement that included Brahmins, Mayawati's BSP on May 11 scored a spectacular victory in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, securing an absolute majority on its own to end 15 years of coalition politics in the state. Set for a fourth term as chief minister, the 51-year-old Dalit leader unseated her bitter rival Mulayam Singh Yadav and delivered a body blow to the BJP's hopes of building on its string of victories in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Mumbai corporation.

 The BSP, which always campaigned on an anti-upper caste plank in its two decades of electoral politics, fought the polls this time without any allies and won 202 of the 396 seats for which results were declared. This just crosses the half-way mark in the 403-member House. Election to one seat was countermanded due to the death of a candidate. Chief Minister Yadav, who won from both Gunnaur and Bharthana, conceded defeat in the wake of his party's drubbing and resigned in the afternoon. His Samajwadi Party suffered severe losses, winning 98 seats. Consolidating on her traditional base among Dalits, Mayawati gave tickets to 138 upper caste candidates, including 86 Brahmins and a large number of Muslims and OBCs, besides 93 Dalits.

While the BSP won 99 seats in the 2002 elections, the Samajwadi Party had bagged 143. In the present results, the BJP lost a lot of ground, winning only 50 seats against the 88 it had in the outgoing House. Chief campaigner Rahul Gandhi's electioneering appeared to have helped the Congress only retain its existing strength in the House. It won 22 seats against the 25 it had in the previous assembly. Independents and others accounted for 25 seats. Addressing a press conference, Mayawati said BSP's thumping electoral victory was the triumph of party's ideology.

Marking a significant shift in her approach towards the electorate, she credited 'sarv samaj' (all castes) rather than 'bahujan samaj'(majority castes) for her landslide victory in Uttar Pradesh. "I am aware of the vicious propaganda launched by some quarters to mislead the upper caste people against me," Mayawati, flanked by S C Mishra, a Brahmin and her new aide who joined the party last year and party leader Nasimmuddin Siddique, told reporters at the BSP headquarters here. "My party workers were livid at such wild allegations and said they should be given a befitting response. But I calmed then down and said we don't need to give them any explanation, leave it on the people," she said. "And it gives me a great delight to inform you that people give a befitting reply.

People of all castes, be it Brahmin, Kshatriya, Kyastha or numerous denominations of lower caste, voted us to power," Mayawati said, drawing a huge applause from the supporters thronging the press conference. Turning to Mishra, a Rajya Sabha MP, she said he "played a pivotal role in amalgamating upper castes with the party. "On my other side is Siddique, whose campaigning ensured the Muslims voted for BSP. I can, with surety, say that Muslim votes have come to us," she said. Expressing her gratitude to people for their support, Mayawati paid tribute to her mentor and BSP founder Kanshi Ram and architect of the Constitution B R Ambedkar and said her party would provide a government that would root out injustice and crime.

Mayawati said a high-level inquiry will be ordered into the destroying of government papers in the office of outgoing UP Parliamentary Affairs minister Azam Khan. She said she had already spoken to the DGP about the incident. The BSP chief also commended the role of the Election Commission for holding free and fair elections. The Chief Minister-in-waiting also thanked people belonging to upper caste for reposing faith in her party. She said the opposition parties needed to introspect on their role and that the BSP has given a befitting reply to their canard and misinformation.