Taj back on Maya's head
Vijay Upadhyay
Agra. When BSP supremo Mayawati resigned as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister on August 25, 2003, it was the city of Taj that had almost destroyed her political career.
In just under four years, the "Taj" of UP is back on Mayawati's head, with the people of Agra whole-heartedly welcoming her to lead the State. The Taj Heritage Corridor issue, which still haunts Mayawati after the CBI took over the case in August 2003, arose from a simple desolate strip of sand on the bank of Yamuna and became the highlight of UP politics in a whirlwind that ultimately forced Mayawati to concede her throne to Mulayam Singh Yadav.
In just under four years, the "Taj" of UP is back on Mayawati's head, with the people of Agra whole-heartedly welcoming her to lead the State. The Taj Heritage Corridor issue, which still haunts Mayawati after the CBI took over the case in August 2003, arose from a simple desolate strip of sand on the bank of Yamuna and became the highlight of UP politics in a whirlwind that ultimately forced Mayawati to concede her throne to Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Yadav, taking over the reins of the State, plunged it into a quagmire of corruption and lawlessness, a factor that became the primary issue for anti-Mulayam gimmicks played by the Opposition parties. Mayawati sought to silently ease her way out of the corruption charges pressed against her in the Corridor issue, mustering support among the dominant upper castes of the State apart from her traditional vote bank.
The result of Mayawati's image-morphing efforts in the Agra division were evident in the 2007 Assembly election, when ignoring her tyrannous rule till 2003 and the Heritage Corridor issue, the Agra voters elected 19 BSP candidates out of a total of 42 seats, beating back the Samajwadi Party from Agra, Mathura, Hathras and Firozabad, where the party could not capture a single seat, holding on to just six seats here, when the BJP surpassed it by two seats, capturing eight seats in all. In Agra alone, out of a total of nine seats, the BSP candidates got elected on seven seats.
Rashtriya Lok Dal, the former ally of Samajwadi Party too, faced a major setback, managing to capture just four seats in the division while Jan Morcha, led by the rebel SP MP Raj Babbar managed to hold just one seat. Independents won on two seats and the Congress and Loktantrik Congress got one seat each.
In a district-wise tally, the BSP won on six out of nine seats in Agra, which is also known as the Dalit capital of UP, bringing about a major achievement by defeating the prince of Bhadawar on the Bah constituency for the first time since Independence. Actor Raj Babbar's party Jan Morcha made its debut in the UP Assembly securing a win on the Dayalbagh seat. The BJP came out to be the loser in Agra, shrinking back to just two seats, when it had earlier held five seats, with the BSP preying on its seats this time.
The RLD too, lost the Fatehpur Sikri seat to BSP where its frontline leader and sitting MLA Babulal fell to the third position. The Samajwadi Party, which had held two seats in Agra earlier, could not open its account this time. In Hathras, the BSP captured two out of four seats while the BJP and RLD shared one seat each. Again in Hathras, the Samajwadi Party could not hold on to even a single seat and the most noticeable defeat here was that of Ranjit Suman, the son of SP general secretary and MP Ramji Lal Suman.
In Firozabad, the Samajwadi Party, which had earlier held all four seats, came out at the ultimate loser, losing two seats to the BSP and two to independent candidates, making Firozabad the only district in the division where independents scored a victory.
Mathura was the only district where the Congress could open its account in the division, retaining the Mathura city seat, where the sitting MLA Pradeep Mathur defeated the BJP by a considerable margin. BSP again managed to gain on two seats here while the RLD and Indian Loktantrik Congress got just one seat each.
The result of Mayawati's image-morphing efforts in the Agra division were evident in the 2007 Assembly election, when ignoring her tyrannous rule till 2003 and the Heritage Corridor issue, the Agra voters elected 19 BSP candidates out of a total of 42 seats, beating back the Samajwadi Party from Agra, Mathura, Hathras and Firozabad, where the party could not capture a single seat, holding on to just six seats here, when the BJP surpassed it by two seats, capturing eight seats in all. In Agra alone, out of a total of nine seats, the BSP candidates got elected on seven seats.
Rashtriya Lok Dal, the former ally of Samajwadi Party too, faced a major setback, managing to capture just four seats in the division while Jan Morcha, led by the rebel SP MP Raj Babbar managed to hold just one seat. Independents won on two seats and the Congress and Loktantrik Congress got one seat each.
In a district-wise tally, the BSP won on six out of nine seats in Agra, which is also known as the Dalit capital of UP, bringing about a major achievement by defeating the prince of Bhadawar on the Bah constituency for the first time since Independence. Actor Raj Babbar's party Jan Morcha made its debut in the UP Assembly securing a win on the Dayalbagh seat. The BJP came out to be the loser in Agra, shrinking back to just two seats, when it had earlier held five seats, with the BSP preying on its seats this time.
The RLD too, lost the Fatehpur Sikri seat to BSP where its frontline leader and sitting MLA Babulal fell to the third position. The Samajwadi Party, which had held two seats in Agra earlier, could not open its account this time. In Hathras, the BSP captured two out of four seats while the BJP and RLD shared one seat each. Again in Hathras, the Samajwadi Party could not hold on to even a single seat and the most noticeable defeat here was that of Ranjit Suman, the son of SP general secretary and MP Ramji Lal Suman.
In Firozabad, the Samajwadi Party, which had earlier held all four seats, came out at the ultimate loser, losing two seats to the BSP and two to independent candidates, making Firozabad the only district in the division where independents scored a victory.
Mathura was the only district where the Congress could open its account in the division, retaining the Mathura city seat, where the sitting MLA Pradeep Mathur defeated the BJP by a considerable margin. BSP again managed to gain on two seats here while the RLD and Indian Loktantrik Congress got just one seat each.
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