It was a tea party, immensely significant, for it would decide who will occupy Rashtrapati Bhavan from July 2007. BSP President and UP Chief Minister Mayawati was here today to address her first press conference after her stunning victory in UP two weeks ago. And she had only two other appointments in her “diary” as she revealed, tea with Congress President Sonia Gandhi this afternoon, and a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday morning.

But Maya was tightlipped on the question of the day: who will be her choice for the Presidential election? Her party holds the key for the UPA’s candidate but Mayawati insisted she would decide only after consultations.

“The national executive is meeting this evening,” she said, “it is only after consultations with my party leaders that I can come to a decision.” On persistent queries, Mayawati finally snapped, “We are a democratic party, I cannot say anything until I have consulted everyone. It is an important issue, we will dwell on it and make a choice carefully. I will reveal my cards then.”

However, it was Mayawati and her now trusted confidant, BSP MP Satish Mishra, who went to have tea with Sonia in the afternoon. “The Congress President invited me, and I have accepted,” she had said earlier. The Chief Minister drove into 10, Janpath, and spent more than 50 minutes with Sonia, and Congress strategist Ahmed Patel.

While Mayawati did not stop to meet the press waiting outside and sources said she brought no new name to the table, indications are that she is willing to go along with the UPA’s choice of candidate clearing the way for a UPA-Left-BSP choice.

... contd.