After UP, Mayawati wants to lord over Tamil Nadu

MAYAWATI IN CHENNAI: Mayawati will take on DMK and AIADMK and wants to be seen as an alternative to them.

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Chennai: Mayawati is eyeing the south. Not having made too much progress in Gujarat or Himachal Pradesh, the Bahujan Samaj Party Chief is now wooing a new, niche votebank — Brahmins and Dalits alienated by the Dravidian movement.

"On the issue of reservation, I want to tell the people of Tamil Nadu that I will bring reservation for poor upper castes and not just for the backward castes. This will be done not just in Tamil Nadu but in the whole country," she said.

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister was in Chennai for two days for a conference. In the state with the highest Dalit population in the country, Mayawati wants to take on formidable parties like the DMK and the AIADMK and wants to be seen as an alternative to the tried and the tested.

"If you all want to get rid of the problems in this state, you will have to stop voting for parties like the Congress, the BJP and the regional parties," she stated.

But will her gamble pay off? A Hindi-speaking leader from the north, talking about reservations for poor upper castes may not go down well with the largely non-Brahmin votebank in the state.

And as far as alliances go, Mayawati could find that the elephant just might have to stand alone.