Letter from the states: Uttar Pradesh The year was 2001. I was attending Mayawati's press conference in Lucknow. Quite unlike her lavish PCs held these days, whenever out of power Mayawati used to invite journalists to her Mal Avenue residence (allotted in her name as a former chief minister of UP) where the conference used to be held in a small portico - Mayawati sat at a small table covered with white linen facing a dozen odd plastic chairs fixed neatly for the reporters. On that hot summer day Mayawati further charged the atmosphere by quickly announcing the removal of her party's three important leaders - R. K Chowdhary, Barkhu Ram Varma and Krishan Pal Singh for their alleged anti-party stand on the controversial reservation issue. Even as the conference was in progress, the news got flashed on the TV channels. After the conference got over journalists started to leave the venue but when they reached the entrance gate they found it...

August 2007: UNPA leaders meet in New Delhi to hold discussions over the crucial Nuclear Deal. After the meeting UNPA chairperson and SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav addresses a press conference and tells the reporters: "We have no foreign policy. Even the Congress does not know what our foreign policy is. We will go to the parliament and the people." Now cut to 3rd July, 2008: The same UNPA leaders again meet in New Delhi to discuss their stand over the Nuclear Deal. Now Mulayam Singh Yadav is neither willing to oppose the Nuclear Deal either inside the parliament or out on the streets. Instead the Samajwadi Party Chief has taken a U turn. While the UNPA leaders pose photographs holding each other hands for the camera and try to send a message that they stand united, Samajwadi Party's dramatic shift towards the Congress marks the beginning of the end of the one year old UNPA. Sources in the Samajwadi Party told CNN-IBN...

The exit of Akhilesh Das Gupta from the Congress might not cause a severe damage to the party in Uttar Pradesh but it has brought to fore the constant infighting in the party's UP unit. Congress high command at 10, Janpath either fails to realize the growing unrest among the state Congressmen or it seems to have chosen to ignore this problem that is plaguing the party for quite some time now. While Akhilesh Das has joined the Bahujan Samaj Party after his removal as a minister in Manhoman Singh's cabinet, the roots of Das's exit from Congress can be traced back to the change of guard in the UP Congress, following the party's dismal performance in the May 2007 Assembly Elections. Son of a former Chief Minister of UP, Babu Banarsi Das Gupta and Das - a flourishing businessman - always remained an eyesore for the Congress leaders in UP. Using money power, Das always tried to please 10, Janpath...

Occasion: 117th birth anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar. The Venue: Newly renovated Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal, Lucknow. The event: UP's Chief Minister and firebrand Dalit leader unveils four statues - of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, his wife Ramabai Ambedkar and of Mayawati's guru and BSP founder Kanshi Ram. But there is something else which has generated curiosity among all those gathered in the Ambedkar sthal. It is unveiling of the fourth statue. 'Mayawati In flesh and blood' will be unveiling, 'Mayawati in stone.' But why did Mayawati unveil her own statue? Perhaps the answer lies in the reactions given by the people who had gathered for this occasion. Three categories of people witnessed this event: Firstly, the bureaucrats who it seemed had not slept for several days because they wanted to make the event a 'special one'. Second, the journalists who could not wait even for hours to make the event an 'unusual one.'...