Akhilesh options open on Maya

Uttar Pradesh: Most exit polls on Thursday, forecast either a thin edge or an emphatic victory for the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections but the projections were overshadowed by a statement from Akhilesh Yadav keeping his options open on allying with Mayawati. "I cannot say anything about an alliance at this hour because we are going to form government on our own. And I have always respected the leader of the BSP by (mentioning) a relationship. So it is obvious that people think we can go with the BSP if there is shortage (of seats)... or we can take the support of the BSP," Akhilesh told BBC Hindi Radio in an interview on Wednesday. Akhilesh refers to Mayawati as "my bua (sister of one's father)" while his ally Rahul Gandhi had expressed "tremendous admiration" for her. Countering suggestions that Akhilesh's comment was triggered by the exit poll projections, a close aide said the interview was given before the forecasts were made public in the afternoon. The forecasts suggested Punjab and Manipur were the two states among the five that went to the polls where the Congress stands a chance of forming the government. In Uttarakhand and Goa, the exit polls put the BJP ahead of the Congress. All the Uttar Pradesh forecasts, however, suggested the BJP might come down from the dizzying heights of 2014 when it had swept the Lok Sabha elections in the state. The performance then would have translated into 337 seats in the 403-member Assembly. The rosiest projection for the BJP today was 285 Assembly seats in the state. Akhilesh's open-ended answer on the BSP came in response to a question on his possible course of action after the results are announced on Saturday. "It is tough to say such things at the moment. I am saying that the Samajwadi-Congress alliance will win majority of the seats and form government," Akhilesh said. Asked whether his inconclusive reply on the question of a post-poll alliance should be viewed as a tacit acceptance, Akhilesh added: "I am repeating that I believe farmers, women and youth have supported the Samajwadi Party. The BJP has failed to explain its achievements." But Akhilesh again kept his options open by saying: "Yes, if we need something during the formation of government... nobody would like the BJP to run Uttar Pradesh with a remote control under President's rule." Akhilesh's ally Rahul Gandhi had also said in January: "I have tremendous respect for Mayawatiji. The ideology of the BJP is dangerous for the country. But this is not the case with the BSP." BSP sources said this evening that Mayawati had discounted the possibility of such an alliance, saying she never trusted the exit polls. But sources on both sides said that nothing could be ruled out since Akhilesh's temperament is different from that of Mulayam Singh Yadav whose supporters had once locked Mayawati up in a guesthouse in 1995, driving her to ally with the BJP the very next day and form the government.