March 24. The recent saga surrounding Mayawati's Rs 5 crore garland has become a burning issue around the country. The garland offered to the BSP chief on Kanshi Ram Jayanti on 15th March in Lucknow has ceased to be a mere publicity stunt by the ruling party and its chief. Rather it has shown that the BSP can go to any extent to win back its support base in the state.
The party through its grandeur on March 15 has tried to show that it is not behind other parties when it comes to showing the money power.Despite Opposition's hue and cry over the drain of money on the celebration, the party workers did not stop from presenting another garland worth Rs 18 lakhs, a few days later.
This clearly shows that Mayawati is in no mood to let the Dalit votes slip away from her hands amidst the resurgent Congress and a fuming Mulayam Singh Yadav. However, the garland will not improve the state which has deteriorated in terms of basic resources. The state government, in a bid to immortalise the Chief Minister has spent lavishly on erecting memorials even as the state is in dismal state. The misrule of the ruling government has given teeth to the armour of the Opposition, which is leaving no stone unturned to target the CM.
It would be interesting to see whether the government policies or the garland will benefit the state and the government or not.
