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Mayawati began her press conference in the Capital with an uncharacteristic giggle. Victory is sweet but sweeter still was the sight of a fawning media, packed to standing-room-only capacity in the plush ballroom of a five star hotel to listen to the woman it once reviled as boorish and uncouth. There were at least 1,000 journos, including the chief editor, in coat and tie, of a leading daily.

The giggle escaped involuntarily, betraying the thrill coursing through Mayawati as she surveyed the hack pack she has always seen as her tormentors.

The tables were turned. She mocked them (“At least do some introspection NOW!”), laughed at them (as they fought for the privilege of getting her attention) and upbraided them (“You don’t know how to ask a question”). The journos lapped it up. So witty, they gushed. A charm offensive, they raved. And when she wound up the press conference with a peremptory order (“Go and eat. Your food is getting cold. There’s chicken for you.”), they went obediently, their roar tamed to a purr. Nothing succeeds like success.

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The BSP leader displayed an impressive degree of sophistication as she went about winning friends and influencing people during her two-day sojourn in the Capital. She took a carload of flowers for Sonia Gandhi, touched the mother in her by praising the ‘hard work’ Rahul put in for the Congress in UP, and did not shy away from talking to waiting reporters when she emerged from the PM’s residence after a meeting.

At the end of her various interactions, Mayawati not only had the media eating out of her hand, Gandhi too was quite taken by the transformation in her, say Congress sources. The two power women surprised everyone by spending close to 90 minutes over tea, chatting about everything from the upcoming presidential polls to the sorry state of UP. Naturally, they exchanged lengthy notes on their common enemy, Mulayam Singh Yadav. Gandhi is also believed to have raised the issue of frequent power cuts plaguing her constituency, Rae Bareli, whose VIP status was withdrawn by Yadav when his relations with the Congress soured. Mayawati replied with an answer that should please followers of Manmohanomics. She said she would bring in private players to overhaul UP’s power sector.

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The tea party was Gandhi’s initiative. She telephoned Mayawati soon after the latter reached Delhi and invited her over, if she was free. It’s a sign of Mayawati’s newfound confidence that she accepted immediately and graciously, instead of acting up as she was prone to do when her politics was in its confrontationist phase. Mayawati’s cavalcade was accorded the honour of driving up to the doorstep of 10 Janpath, a privilege reserved only for the family and the PM. One car carried liveried UP Bhavan bearers holding the three bouquets of orchids Mayawati brought for Gandhi. The lady herself rode in another car, her Brahmin mascot, Satish Misra, by her side. Gandhi, also armed with a bouquet, was at the door to receive her and the two women shook hands warmly. Surprisingly, the media was kept away from what was surely the photograph of the day.

TAILPIECE
Mayawati’s favourite dish is palak-paneer, it seems. That’s what she ate after the press conference, as she pointed out repeatedly through the lunch, while journos tucked into butter chicken, which had to be supplied in vast quantities by a frazzled hotel staff.

Email: a_jerath@dnaindia.net