New Delhi: Nearly six years after she was
expelled from the party, firebrand Hindutva leader Uma Bharti
was on Tuesday re-inducted into the BJP that entrusted her with the
task of looking after Uttar Pradesh which is going to polls
next year.
Announcing her re-entry, BJP president Nitin Gadkari
said Uttar Pradesh will be the main area of her work and she
will have a "prominent role to play" there in the campaign of
the party.
"The decision to reinduct her into the party was taken
with consensus... BJP will get a new energy in Uttar Pradesh
with Uma," he said.
52-year-old Bharti was expelled for indiscipline and
defying the BJP`s central leadership in December 2005 after
she had objected to L K Advani`s praise of Muhammad Ali
Jinnah.
Bharti had then formed her own outfit Bhartiya
Janshakti Party.
Expressing happiness over her homecoming, Bharti said
she was feeling like the proverbial bird of the ship, who
leaves it only to come back again.
"Out of the party for five six years, I have realised
that only BJP is my anchor and destination... In these six
years I learnt that if one has to serve the nation and keep
some ideological commitment, there is no option other than
BJP. I want to forget the last five years I was out of BJP,"
Bharti said.
"After remaining with BJP for 16 years, I separated
from it over certain unpleasant issues. I had joined BJP due
to commitment and left BJP due to commitment," Bharti said.
She said that she later realised that there was no
other option than BJP to give the country a plan and preserve
the ideological commitment.
Bharti said her priority will be to take Uttar Pradesh
from Ram Mandir to `Ram Rajya` as Uttar Pradesh is a state of
"Ram and Roti" and "Mandal and Kamandal".
She thanked party leaders for "accepting" her back
into the party fold.
Welcoming the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister
back into the party, Gadkari said that she had expressed her
desire to work for the party to strengthen the ideology in
which she has "unflinching" faith.
Asked whether the leaders from Madhya Pradesh,
including Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who were
opposing her re-induction, were happy with the decision,
Gadkari said he has consulted all leaders from the state and
now there is no difference in the party on this issue.
He said there is no bar for her from travelling across
the country but her special attention will be on Uttar Pradesh
as it is going to polls and on the ongoing Ganga Abhiyan.
Gadkari said the entry of Bharti into the party fold
is going to strengthen the ideology and organisation of BJP.
PTI
