It is all or nothing for us in UP: BJP

Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh has said that the party will attempt to gain absolute majority on its own in the Uttar Pradesh assembly or sit in the Opposition, ruling out any post-poll tie-up with Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati with whom they have been in alliance at least three times in the past.

"It is all or nothing for us. We are prepared to sit in the Opposition if we do not get full majority," he said.

Party insiders say that this attitude suits the BJP, which has its eye on the 2009 general election as well.

"We will not take the onus of forming a government if there is not a clear winner. President's Rule will neither benefit us nor harm us, but it will harm both the BSP and the Samajwadi Party who are competitors of the Congress vote bank. They will be anxious that there be a government. We will wait for them to approach us, and we will go ahead if it suits us and on our terms," a senior party leader said.

"In the run-up to the general election, why should we look anxious to form an obviously-disabled government and ruin our vote bank," the leader added.

The party's election management committee headed by Venkaiah Naidu also said that apart from the party's pre-poll alliance with the Kurmi base, Apna Dal and Janata Dal (United), the party will not have any other alliance.

"We are very clear that we will ask the people for a clear majority," he said.

He also said that as part of widening its appeal over and above caste consolidation among Brahmins, Rajputs and Kurmis, the party will project good governance in the form of 'the Kalyan Singh model of 1991.'

Former chief minister Kalyan Singh's first stint as chief minister had seen him cracking down on known offenders and mafia men. The BJP hopes that by evoking this image, it will appeal to a crime weary electorate.

The otherwise happy BJP, after tying in its pre-poll alliances, was a little ruffled by the fact that Mayawati had given out nearly 116 tickets to upper castes, among them 83 Brahmins who form a whopping 13 per cent of the electorate. The party wants to project the image that this is all an election gimmick.

"Chunav ke samay samman, chunav ke baad apman, (honour during elections, insults after them)," is the slogan coined by the party to warn upper castes.