Lucknow:
Come February and the biggest guns are out in Uttar Pradesh. The women at the top take over today as Sonia Gandhi and Mayawati hit the campaign trail.
UP Chief Minister Mayawati has begun a high-powered blitz that will see her hold 30 rallies across the state in the next fortnight.
In Sitapur today she slammed the Congress for most of what ails UP - she said the Centre's "wrong economic policies" were to blame for unemployment and Congress rule in the state in previous years for poor development.
"Not much development has happened because of delays in release of central funds," said Mayawati. "Don't fall for the Congress' promise of ushering in development if you vote for them," she added.
She accused the Congress of playing "divide and rule" with the minority sub-quota in the backward class quota. The party, she said was "giving false hope to the minority community" and pitting it against other castes by slicing up the 27% quota.
On the issue of corruption, Ms Mayawati said allegations against her party were false and malicious. "Our party has tried to remove corruption from its roots. We received it as a legacy in the state."
In Gonda, Congress president Sonia Gandhi struck back, raising development issues. The Congress released its manifesto yesterday, taking aim firmly at Mayawati and her policies. The party has promised a "clean UP" that envisages uprooting much of what Ms Mayawati has done. With its focus on the Muslim vote, it has also promised to implement the 4.5 per cent sub-quota for backward Muslims in the state that Ms Mayawati sought to tear apart today.
Ms Mayawati's second stop today is Barabanki. Mrs Gandhi will address her second rally in Deoris.
UP votes in seven phases all through February and into March. The fight for power in the crucial state is being called a mini-general election; the results are expected to have political ramifications beyond the borders of the vast state.
For Mayawati, it is an attempt to hold on to power. For the Congress, this is its best chance in over two decades to resurrect its fortunes in the state under the stewardship of general secretary and Sonia Gandhi's son, Rahul Gandhi.
Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party and the BJP are the other two parties fighting grittily in this high-stakes, four-cornered battle.