UP state diary: The art of Akhilesh Das' chamchagiri

APPLE-POLISHING: From Sonia Gandhi to Mayawati, Das has always been the perfect sycophant.

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Rajdeep Sardesai

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Keywords: Mayawati, Congress

But months before he was dropped, Akhilesh Das had already realized that in the new 'Rahul Regime' his days in the Congress party were numbered.

It was Navneet Seghal a senior IAS official who is understood to have brokered a deal between Mayawati and Akhilesh Das.

During his deputation to the Centre, this UP cadre IAS official was secretary to Akhilesh Das in the steel ministry. When Mayawati became the Chief Minister she recalled Seghal to Lucknow and appointed him as Secretary in the Chief Minister's Office.

Since then, this IAS official, who is very close to BSP Supremo Mayawati, made her realize the importance of Akhilesh Das. It is no big surprise why Das was appointed the party's National General Secretary (almost at par with Mayawati's trusted Brahmin face, Satish Chandra Mishra) and also offered BSP's ticket for the prestigious Lucknow Lok Sabha seat.

In Lucknow Secretariat rumours are already rife about the huge 'donation' Akhilesh Das offered to Mayawati for this entry into the BSP.

If Rahul Gandhi is trying to unsettle Mayawati by constantly wooing her Dalit voters, there are talks in Lucknow that Mayawati is trying a split in the UP Congress. It is no coincidence that Das - who literary picked up Rahul Gandhi's slippers during his days in Congress - chose to target none other but the party's own 'yuvraj'.

It is not clear how many Congress leaders - some names are Sanjay Singh from Amethi and Rajesh Mishra, Congress MP from Varanasi - will choose to ride the BSP blue elephant in the near future, but Akhilesh Das has several qualities that has already made him Mayawati's new poster boy.

Firstly, with Mayawati's most trusted lieutenant Satish Chandra Mishra busy handling her innumerable court cases - which include the Taj Corridor case and all those relating to Mayawati's disproportionate assets case - she needs another strong leader, more importantly a good fund manager. Das, it seems, has already filled in this vacuum.

Secondly, though Mayawati has a Satish Mishra to represent the Brahmins and a Muslim face in Nasimmudin Siddique, what she was lacking till now was a leader who could be projected as a Bania face. In Akhilesh Das Gupta, she has found a perfect match and Mayawati lost no time in appointing Das as in-charge of the Vaishya Bhaichara committee.

Lastly, Mayawati would now get what Sonia and Rahul Gandhi used to get - her huge cut-outs, banners and posters of Bahenji, free stay for party leaders in Das's posh hotel in Lucknow or free buses for rallies - and a lot of tamasha.

In return, Das will make sure that Mayawati overlooks his shady land deals and illegal constructions. After all, it is a marriage of convenience, an art called chamchagiri in which Akhilesh Das has turned out to be a grandmaster.