The first hurdle before Mayawati is the disproportionate assets case, where the CBI has sought the permission of the Supreme Court to file a chargesheet against her.

The case will come up for hearing on July 28. A go-ahead to the CBI can be a big setback to Mayawati’s future plans and ambitions.

Moreover, her archrival and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has been lying low since his defeat in the Assembly polls, can be trusted to give her a tough time. His party might hold an important position in the Union coalition and use it to settle scores with the chief minister.

By joining the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA), Mayawati has got a host of allies, including the Left parties, but barring the Jat-dominated Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), none has any presence in Uttar Pradesh. Even the RLD has a limited presence in western UP. Further, Ajit Singh is known as someone who has no issues with switching loyalities. Mayawati had also burnt her bridges with the BJP long ago.

State Congress spokesman Akhilesh Pratap Singh alleged that Mayawati spearheaded the campaign to topple the UPA government only to mount pressure on the Centre to close the cases of corruption against her. He claimed that Mayawati was already nervous by the new political equations emerging in the state after the trust vote. “With the defeat of the forces opposed to the UPA government, Mayawati should apologise to the people and admit that she worked beyond her brief in attempting to topple the government,” he said.

Samajwadi Party leaders, who were at the receiving end ever since Mayawati took over as the chief minister in May 2007, are confident that the political scenario in the state would soon change to their advantage.

“Mayawati will be held accountable for the thousands of crores of the public money siphoned off by the BSP ministers from the state exchequer during the last 14 months,” said SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary.

Some political observers, however, believe that Mayawati has gained the most from the political crisis sparked off by the Left’s withdrawal of support to the UPA.

“The emergence of Mayawati on the national scene is a fitting reply to the Congress and their allies who were accusing us of being hand-in-glove with the BJP. In one stroke, the Left parties have demolished the dreams of Lal Krishna Advani, as in Mayawati now there is one more prime ministerial candidate,” said Ashok Mishra, former state secretary of the CPI.

Ashutosh Mishra, a political analyst, said: “The UNPA, created by Mulayam Singh