Sonia Gandhi meets Mayawati, Cong rattled

What did Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Bahujan Samajwadi Party supremo Mayawati discuss for 75 minutes?

This is the question a rattled Congress leadership was asking itself all evening. Mayawati arrived in Delhi today, held a Press conference but gave no indication of the BSP mind or whom it was going to support for the President of India, beyond reminding reporters that the BSP and the UPA had collaborated earlier.

Rejecting suggestions that her party would join the government at the Centre, she said her party was an outside supporter of the Congress-led coalition at the Centre.

"We gave support (to the UPA) to keep communal forces at bay and will continue to do the same," she said rejecting a question whether the BSP would join the government at the Centre.

"We did not do so even when we were in the opposition in Uttar Pradesh," she said.

Mayawati met the Congress president in the afternoon and later went into a meeting with party representatives where she explained to them how they managed to win in UP and how the experiment could be replicated in other parts of India. The meeting was going on at the time of filing this report.

Earlier, she had told the reporters the issue of electing a President would be discussed at this meeting by her party's national executive, after which the party would decide on the candidate for President.

"I will be able to open my cards (on the Presidential polls) only after consultations with party MPs, MLAs and other leaders. I know this is a very important issue and a decision needs to be taken carefully," she said.

Party sources said the issue of SEZ is also likely to be discussed at the meeting in the wake of state government's decision that farmers' land would not be acquired for SEZ and instead the SEZ founders would have to seek the consent of the farmers. She is slated to meet the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tomorrow to discuss the problems faced by the state, like power.

Mayawati, who spent her first day in office transferring over a hundred IAS, IPS and PCS officers in the state, said she would go slow on this now.

"From now on transfers in the state would be made through a services board and I will look at transfers of above assistant director general level only," she said.

She also said Dalits would be given pattas (ownership documents) of land allotted to them and which was "under occupation of upper castes".

In remarks that could create panic among several builders and developers in the Noida and Greater Noida region, Mayawati said, "During the last three years, no decision were taken according to the rules in Noida and Greater Noida.This will be reviewed and action will be taken if they are found violating the rules."