The race for Rashtrapati Bhavan is expected to hot up over the weekend with the expected arrival of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati in New Delhi on Saturday. The BSP chief’s nod to a Congress-led UPA Government’s candidate is crucial as it would tilt the scales in his favour.

Mayawati is expected to meet Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who will have also returned by Saturday night from her visit to Europe. Another significant UPA ally, CPI(M) secretary-general Prakash Karat is also expected to return on the same day from his visit to Cyprus.

The coming weekend will be abuzz with speculation about the choice of a Congress candidate, which has veered from Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Shivraj Patil to party leader Motilal Vora. While Maya had virtually pledged her support to UPA candidate when she came calling on Sonia and the Prime Minister on May 25, a week after she was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, she had also made it clear that the Congress would have to make the selection. She, however, reiterated her support to the UPA Government, a signal that she would abide by its choice in any event.

BSP sources say Maya is keen that the potential candidate is “political and not just a rubber stamp” of the Government. They also say that Maya does not have any “issues” with any of the three candidates and that even the most unlikely contestant, Motilal Vora, was not a problem.

They recall how Vora, as Governor of UP between May 1993 and May 1996, had not only enabled Maya become Chief Minister without any acrimony or debate, but had also saved her from the “infamous guest house seige” a day before she was sworn in for the first time.

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