Exactly 15 years ago, in the summer of 2003, LK Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee tried to persuade Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to join a national pre-poll alliance with the BJP in return for support to her in a hung UP Assembly.
This included a pre-poll alliance ahead of the Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh (MP), Delhi and Himachal Pradesh slated for that year. It was a tough bargain.
