LUCKNOW: When Mayawati offered sops of home postings and leave encashment to UP police personnel at a rally on Wednesday, it was a paradigm shift in her stance.In 2007 she had scrapped her predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav 's police recruitment drive, throwing 22,000 new recruits out of work. This election, `Behenji' is a transformed politician, more interactive and open, and way more flexible in her mission to outgun rivals.Having done poorly in three elections -2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha and 2012 Vidhan Sabha -this battle for UP is crucial and she is going flat out to win. She's changing her stand mid-course as required. She's rewriting party rules. She's committed not to build statues. And she's promised to focus on development.The BSP was the first party to ramp up for the polls. Right after its Lok Sabha election drubbing, Mayawati appointed Vidhan Sabha prabharis, who were later declared candidates. She reviewed and re-reviewed their ability to win, naming them much before her opponents. Last AugustSeptember, she took off for campaigning and addressed public rallies.But by then her senior colleagues had finished bhaichara sammelans (brotherhood conclaves) to promote Dalit-upper caste ties.These sammelans were part of her twin-track strategy to regain people's faith -to drive home the larger message that BSP is willing to change, take all sections along, and at the same time, launch a silent grassroots cam paign to generate a groundswell.Early last year her silent storm troopers fanned out in the vil lages, holding small meetings.Their message: "Chulha chauka baad mein, vote pahle. Humein Behenji ko mukhyamantri ba nana hai, kasam khaaiye Bhim ki" (Vote first, daily chores come later. Pledge to make Behenji CM again). "This silent campaign's been on for over a year. Secretive meetings are held. Only Dalits get invited," a Dalit MP says.Having reached out to their core Dalit voters, party seniors such as Naseemuddin Siddiqui and Satish Mishra were tasked with wooing two other target groups -Muslims and Brahmins. Their mission: Forge a bond with these two groups, especially the minority community . Reason she's not just fielded 99 Muslims, but has repositioned herself as the most vocal spokesperson of the community's interests, replacing SP .The BJP's 2014 resurgence posed a challenge to Mayawati.The saffron party had taken away a large share of her Dalit vote. So she set aside her sharpest arrows for saffron leaders.She now uses every forum for sharp attacks on the BJP and PM Modi. The idea is to draw closer to Muslims. That's why she repeatedly cautions them `not to waste' their votes by supporting a `fragmented' SP.Social scientist AK Verma says the loss of key Most Backward Class (MBC) netas such as Babu Singh Kushwaha and Swami Prasad Maurya has hurt Mayawti. She knows she must bring the group back to the BSP fold. "So, in a clever move, of 99 tickets she gave the Muslims, a large number was set aside for Dalit and OBC converts. This could help win over Dalit-MBCs and Muslims," he says.She didn't have qualms when the Quami Ekta Dal, run by mafia-turned-neta Mukhtar Ansari and his brothers, merged with her party . She even gave them tickets to contest. On the other hand, her promise not to build statues and memorials could help assuage feelings of the upper castes.

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