Lucknow:
After her party's dismal performance in Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati is in introspection mode. The former Chief Minister has called a three-day meeting of her party leaders to take stock of the poll debacle. The BSP managed to win merely 80 seats this year, as against the 203 it won in last elections held in 2007. Today is the second day of the meeting.
In the series of meetings called at the party headquarters in the state capital, Mayawati will dissect her party's poor show, brainstorm with party leaders and assess the political situation in the state, a source close to her said.
The meeting will be attended by the new elected members of the state assembly, member of the legislative council, Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha members of the BSP.
All state party units of the BSP, district office bearers and zonal coordinators have also been invited for the National Executive meet.
In her address after she submitted her resignation, Mayawati had blamed "communalization of the elections by the Congress and BJP" for her defeat.
Swami Prasad Maurya, the state president of the BSP and close aide of Mayawati, has been appointed the BSP's legislature party leader.
It is reliably learnt that Mayawati might opt for a Rajya Sabha seat -- Uttar Pradesh will send 12 Upper House members in the coming by-polls later this month, and move to national politics.
The state politics, sources say, would be left to her close aide Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Maurya.
At its present strength of 80 in the legislative assembly, Mayawati can send two members to the Rajya Sabha.
Sources say that Mayawati's entry into the Upper House was a near certainty; the outgoing chief minister might pitchfork her close aide and former cabinet secretary Shashank Shekhar Singh to the Rajya Sabha.