Road to Opposition unity harder than first thought

All gambits to draw Mayawati and the BSP into the Opposition circuit appear to be failing

All gambits to draw Mayawati and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) into the Opposition circuit appear to be failing. The initial hope was that Mayawati would attend the Lalu Prasad-led Opposition rally last week. But Congress President Rahul Gandhi found the cooler climes of Norway more attractive than Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. Once Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav confirmed he would be attending, Mayawati dropped the idea. There is also no clarity on the role of the Nationalist Congress Party, none of whose leaders attended the rally. Akhilesh Yadav without his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav (who has said the mahagathbandhan is