'Mayawati feels Obama is a kindred spirit'

LONDON: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati has been so inspired by the victory of Barack Obama that she has written a letter of congratulation to the US president-elect, a British newspaper reported.

"She feels Obama is a kindred spirit," the Sunday Telegraph quoted an unnamed Maywati aide as saying. "She was so thrilled she sent him a message of congratulation."

The paper said Obama's success has reinforced Mayawati's belief in her greatness despite strong criticism of her style of functioning and her alleged failure to bring development to backward castes — her main constituency.

“Whereas he (Obama) has erased only a couple of centuries of discrimination, she wants to be known for wiping out a far longer legacy of bigotry if she becomes prime minister,” the paper said.

It quoted Mayawati's former principal secretary PL Punia as saying she suffered from “feudal trappings". "She terrorises her civil servants. She doesn't understand files on complex issues, they have to be explained to her verbally," Punia said.

The paper, however, said Mayawati's supporters liken her to Obama, while she pins her hopes of premiership on a hung Parliament and left support at the next general election.