To be effective, comedians and politicians need to get their timing just right. The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and the leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Mayavati, has been threatening the Congress since January that she would withdraw the BSP’s outside support for the United Progressive Alliance if the Centre did not pay heed to her various demands, particularly special grants for Bundelkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh. While Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Bundelkhand caused an escalation in the hostility between the BSP and the Congress, increasing inflation gave Ms Mayavati another handle against the UPA. As a Dalit leader and chief minister of a state where there is a significant percentage of farmers and landless labourers, she has declared with conviction that it is the failure of the UPA to control inflation and protect the poor from its devastating effects that has caused the BSP to withdraw its support. She has so timed it as to inflict maximum damage. The BSP’s withdrawal will not cause the government’s fall, but with the Left pushing the envelope with the civilian nuclear deal, the Congress is at least on edge. Ms Mayavati is being ambiguous regarding the deal; no doubt she will play the way that serves her best if a confidence motion against the UPA government does take place.

The UP chief minister’s stand is ideological and compassionate. It may distract attention from the fact that the Central Bureau of Investigation is looking into the disproportionate assets case against her. The Taj Corridor case too has been revived. One of the hopes Ms Mayavati nurtured was that the Congress-led UPA government would overlook these; else, what was the point of leaving a Bharatiya Janata Party-led formation for the UPA? Inflation is a good reason to give. The timing would also prevent the claim that the Congress’s growing closeness to Mulayam Singh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party is the reason for Ms Mayavati’s exit. The Congress is making sceptical noises, citing the huge packet UP received for relief and development under the UPA and Ms Mayavati’s own tendency to free hoarders and black-marketeers who are contributing to the price rise. If the other regional parties decide to prop up the UPA because they do not want early elections, the BSP’s withdrawal will cost the Congress little. Yet for an ambitious politician with a talent for power, creating uncertainty at a critical time is good politics. Ms Mayavati has certainly done that.