http://in.news.yahoo.com/070511/48/6fo23.html
Sat, May 12 City BSP wants Maya mantra to reach Delhi too By IE Saturday May 12, 12:26 AM NOT many had thought that the Bahujan Samaj Party's performance in the MCD elections was an indication of things to come in Uttar Pradesh. But just about a month on, the party's elated councillors in the Corporation said today that Mayawati's clean sweep in UP Assembly polls would have a major bearing on Delhi's relation with its big neighbour. With 35 per cent of Delhi's population comprising people from UP, the results do affect the Capital's local issues, Delhi BSP president Sahi Ram Pehalwan said. The party got a record 17 councillors elected in the MCD elections on April 5. "Mayawati had twice been in power earlier," Pehalwan said after the party's stunning victory in UP Vidhan Sabha polls today. But both her stints, he said, were brief. "Once for nine months, and then for 12 months; that, too, with the help of another party. So she never had full control." Delhi BSP leaders meanwhile said they would now approach the government in UP to help resolve several inter-state deadlocks. Interestingly, BSP's poll-wise growth in the Capital reflects its evolution in Uttar Pradesh - in 2002, BSP had just one councillor in the MCD, while it has 17 now; in UP, it had 67 legislators in 2002, and won a simple today. Party leaders said their strategy in both MCD and UP Assembly polls were the same: involve other castes and communities outside the Bahujan Samaj. First as candidates, and then woo the voters. "The party won (17 seats) in th MCD elections thanks largely to the variety of castes that came under the BSP umbrella," said Sanjay Gupta, the BSP councillor from Sultan Puri (South). BSP leaders from the city meanwhile said the party would now work for all sections of the populace, and not just the Dalits, in both Delhi and UP.
