The Hindu : Mayawati meets Sonia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 17, 2004

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National

Mayawati meets Sonia

By K.V. Prasad

NEW DELHI, FEB.16. The talks between the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for a possible `understanding' on seat sharing in the Lok Sabha polls appears to have stabilised, with the BSP chief, Mayawati, meeting the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, at the latter's residence here last night.

The senior Congress leader, Pranab Mukherjee, said today that the party was "hopeful of forging an alliance'' with the BSP. Asked whether the arrangement would be restricted to Uttar Pradesh, he said that it could be spread over a few States. The BSP was keen to have a reciprocal arrangement with the Congress-ruled States such as Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan.

The BSP members had been insisting that the party would not gain as the Congress has a low percentage of votes share in the Uttar Pradesh. The BSP has always maintained that while it transfers its share of votes to any party which aligns with it, it never gained. Though the BSP leaders were suggesting that the party go it alone, the Congress leaders engaged in negotiations were still hopeful of clinching a deal.

Mr. Mukherjee, who has been assigned with the task of negotiating alliances/ understanding, was in touch with the Telengana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) in Andhra Pradesh. The TRS has been insisting of having at least 50 seats of the 107-Assembly constituencies and seven of the 16 Lok Sabha seats in the region. The Lok Janshakti Party chief, Ramvilas Paswan, has been negotiating on behalf of the TRS.

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