The tapes and other evidence include the way physical and material harm of detractors, party rivals and critics were carried out at the behest of the BSP supremo.

This is one corruption charge against Mayawati, levelled by Naseemuddin Siddiqui her most trusted party colleague till the other day, which she will find most difficult to counter. The tapes released by the ousted BSP leader who has for long been considered to be virtual number two in the party has effectively sounded the endgame bugle for the Dalit Tsarina of Indian politics.

Over an hour long press conference which concluded with Siddiqui releasing some tapes where Mayawati is openly asking him to arrange for money and warning him that he should deliver it on time is not all the ammunition which the expelled BSP's Muslim face for two decades has. He even threatened his erstwhile boss saying that he has 150 audio conversation tapes to expose Mayawati, party general secretary Satish Mishra and Anand Kumar (Mayawati's brother), as also several other evidence -- their benami properties and a whole lot of their corrupt deeds.

The tapes and other evidence include the way physical and material harm of detractors, party rivals and critics were carried out at the behest of the BSP supremo. Politically, his words would be music to the ears of the ruling BJP government at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh. The revelations made by Siddiqui is a fit case for the constitution of a special investigation team (SIT) and the state to ask the CBI to take up the investigation. If the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh does not do this then it would perhaps be failing in its duty. Though Siddiqui has yet not said that he was submitting the tapes and other such evidence of the BSP leadership's corrupt and dirty deeds to state agencies, these can still be procured by any probing team.

The fact that Siddiqui's words over the years have been taken as the words of Mayawati for he was the second most influential leader on the ground after her in the party, his charges as also the audio records would be taken seriously. His charges in no way can be brushed aside as the rant of a disgruntled leader.

The corruption charges against BSP chief as made by Siddiqui is almost same as those made by some other senior leaders who left BSP and joined BJP or Samajwadi Party, Swami Prasad Maurya, Brajesh Pathak and others. But then there is a difference. Siddiqui has been with the party until the other day and is perceived to be one person who kept all the secrets of her boss. More so, he has actually released tapes.

The other significant thing that Siddiqui conveyed by quoting her private conversations and her speech at the 19 April party meet that Mayawati actually believed that Muslims, upper castes, OBCs, various sub-castes of Dalit did not vote for her party, for which she took her party leaders to task. This effectively means that the "EVM manipulation" charge which she made against BJP on 11 March, even as Uttar Pradesh Assembly poll results were being announced now sound hollow. In all likelihood, the BSP chief hurriedly made tampered voting machine charge against the victorious BJP only to somehow convince her party workers and social constituents that she still had the popular support and was not dumped by people.

The other charge levelled by Siddiqui that will haunt Mayawati for a long time is that she called the Muslims as traitors. Siddiqui quoted Mayawati as saying Musalman gaddar hai...dadhiwale (Maulanas) ye kutte mere paas aate thhe.. ("Muslims are traitors. The bearded ones came to me like dogs"). A section of the Muslim community could take Siddiqui's words at face value, no matter what Mayawati says in her counter attack on him or in her defence.

Remember in these elections Mayawati was counting on Muslim-Dalit votes and in rally after rally she publicly talked about votes from the Muslim community. She had put up around 100 Muslim candidates. BSP could manage to win only 19 seats in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly meaning that Mayawati couldn't even get elected as a Rajya Sabha MP when her term expires next year. She has zero representation in Lok Sabha and soon will have zero representation in Rajya Sabha.

Siddiqui's revelations, the intensity of his evidence backed charge is such that she might never be in a position to resurrect her party. The ousted leader made it clear that with every move against him made by Mayawati and Mishra would force him to release some more tapes and other evidence. He even claimed that he knew of gang leaders and members who did this dirty job for party chief.

The former BSP leader charged that Mayawati allegedly asked him to arrange for Rs 50 crore because the party immediately needed that much of money. When Siddiqui expressed his inability Mayawati asked him to sell his landed property and if that can't fetch full amount then he should ask his friends, relative, those (officers and businessmen) they had helped when BSP was in power and the leaders who were given tickets in recently concluded elections. But the money had to be arranged without fail and at the earliest. In the tapes, Mayawati is heard admonishing him for "taking too much of time in delivering on the work given to him." She is also heard giving instructions to persons and areas from where he should raise money.

The language is that of extortion not of donation. The tapes also reveal that the kitab or the membership book given by the BSP leadership to its candidates and other leaders was an unaccounted money-spinning exercise.

Mark Siddiqui's words: "I have her birth chart. If I release the volume of evidence I have against her then an earthquake is going to come." Given his proximity with BSP chief for the last 34 years, his threat might not be empty.