The Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Mayawati, was quick to do a U-turn and restore the land allotted for a Railway Coach Factory in Rae Bareli after cancelling its allotment once she found herself in a fix following Allahabad High Court’s stay order with instructions to the state government to maintain status quo on the land in question till a final order is passed.

In the eye of the storm was “Rae Bareli” itself and the target was none other than the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, whose constituency it is. Rae Bareli has returned members of the Nehru-Gandhi family to the parliament election after election except when Raj Narain wrested this Lok Sabha seat from Indira Gandhi. Revoking the cancellation of allotment of land might be a tactical retreat for Mayawati. But, she has achieved what she wanted to. She has effectively scuttled the Bhumi Pujan for the Coach Factory to be presided over by Sonia Gandhi at Lalganj in Rae Bareli.

True, Sonia Gandhi, defied the prohibitory order and visited Rae Bareli anyway. Disregarding the prohibitory orders, some of the farmers of the area too met Sonia Gandhi and raised slogans condemning the UP government’s move. Sonia Gandhi won round one and sent Mayawati scurrying for cover.

Reversing her own decision is against Mayawati’s grain. Nevertheless, she did that because she realized the futility of pressing forward with it. Mayawati also realised that if she stood firm on the cancellation, it would send a wrong message to the people of UP in the election year that she was anti-development.

So, Mayawati not only cleared the land for the Railway Coach Factory but also sent a proposal for development of Uttar Pradesh to the central government demanding Rs.5,000 for the same. Mayawati made it a point to endorse a copy of the proposal to Sonia Gandhi. By doing that Mayawati has sent a message to the people of Rae Bareli that the project will come up if she wills and may be shelved if she decides to throw a spoke into it.

What one wonders is: Is Mayawati trying to kill two birds with one stone? Is Mayawati also trying to convey to Sonia Gandhi that she could be a thorn in the flesh in the run up to the elections if Sonia adopts a confrontationist attitude? Is Mayawati in someway hinting that Sonia should reconsider Congress party’s electoral alliance with her party’s archrival Samajwadi Party? Mayawati knows one thing for sure…that the Congress party is not comfortable with the Samajwadi party’s posturing.

The Congress party is not too happy with the morsels that Samajwadi Party is trying to throw at it under the seat-sharing arrangement for the forthcoming electoral alliance. If Mayawati could have Brahmins, Muslims and weaker sections (BMW) in her bandwagon as part of an election strategy, she could also have Congress for an alliance partner. In any case, she is apprehensive of the damage that the SP-Congress combine could inflict on her Bahujan Samaj Party in the forthcoming elections.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party has some committed votes. But, their constituency is not large enough to return all of their candidate to the Lok Sabha. Similarly, the BSP too has some committed votes. But, again, that may not be sufficient to return all their candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. An electoral alliance may just do the trick.

Apart from these two sets of committed votes, most of what is left is seen as floating votes. The Samajwadi Party and the Congress party would be fishing for these votes. But, then, they would have to contend with the BSP and the BJP for these votes. The next Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh is going to be a war of nerves. It is going to be interesting in terms of political alliances and political manoeuvres that are likely to precede the elections.

Needless to mention, Mayawati is not someone you can trust blindly. She has a killer instinct and she could be absolutely ruthless in politics. Nobody knows this better than the BJP. She has dumped them twice after having her share of the pie when they had a coalition government in UP.

This might be the beginning of a clash of Titans for power in the central Indian state of Uttar Pradesh which holds the real key to the corridors of power at the centre. Unfortunately, the Congress has done little during the past decade to consolidate its position in Uttar Pradesh. It could have easily identified dozens of seats other than the two that would be contested by the mother (Sonia) and the son (Rahul), and, nurtured them.

Ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Sonia Gandhi and Mayawati—two of the most powerful women political leaders of north India, are locked in a power struggle to set the stage for the next government at the centre. Mayawati is eyeing the Prime Minister’s chair this time and she is pinning her hopes on the left front and others to help her get there.

Rae Bareli is not the only concern of Sonia. Amethi is even more important to her. If her only Son Rahul has to rise, it has got to be from there. How could we forget that it is Uttar Pradesh that has given India the most number of Prime Minsters?