The senior-most Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, L K Advani, has said that Uma Bharti will return to the party to strengthen the organisation in Uttar Pradesh.
“Nitin Gadkari talked to Uma Bharti. And she had spoken to me, and on my advice, agreed that she would concentrate on strengthening the party unit in Uttar Pradesh, which has become greatly enfeebled. She said she would like to also contest from Uttar Pradesh. But she has sought some time from the party president before taking the plunge,” Advani wrote in his blog.
It seems senior BJP leaders have managed to convince Bharti to stay away from Madhya Pradesh because the present chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, is uncomfortable with her presence in the state. Before leaving BJP, Bharti was the chief minister of the state and enjoyed considerable support from MLAs.
“I hold that we lost the 2004 polls mainly because of overconfidence and consequent complacency. Also, during those six years in office, our organisational network had become loose. Considered state-wise, the worst affected from this angle was Uttar Pradesh, a state in which we fared poorly both in 2004 as well as 2009,” Advani wrote.
Advani also mentioned that soon after taking charge of BJP, Gadkari had said that colleagues who had contributed in building up the party should be brought back. “Gadkari specifically discussed with me two names, Jaswant Singh and Uma Bharti. I spoke to Jaswant Singh and he is back in the party,” Advani wrote.