BJP on a reuniting spree

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

The Bharatiya Janata Party is on a reuniting spree and if speculations are to be believed after Jaswant Singh it is the turn of estranged leader Uma Bharti to return to the party. The former firebrand leader was recently seen travelling in the same plane with L K Advani, former party chief Rajnath Singh and party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad to attend the last rites of Chief Minister Raman Singh’s father, who passed away recently.

The only problem with Uma’s return is the Madhya Pradesh BJP leaders who do not have happy memories of Uma who ruled with an iron hand when she was in charge of the party. Uma’s homecoming might also pose problems to MP Chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who has been in charge of the state ever since Uma Bharti left the party and floated Bharatiya Janashakti Party.

The larger picture however is that BJP is trying it’s best to build the party and fortify it’s walls. It had once been the most powerful party in the country. The recent support for Ram Jethmalani was another example of it reaching out to the ex-collegues. The ex Law Minister had been once very close to the leaders of the party and the fallout had been such that he fought a Lok Sabha election against former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

These are giant moves by the BJP which has been on a constant decline ever since the defeat in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. The party has however taken some giant steps ever since Nitin Gadkari took over as the President. He has been trying to reach to all the leaders who had left the party due to personal differences with some colleagues. This as a counter measure to the growing popularity of the Congress which a decade back had looked on the verge of collapse.

If the BJP can pull off the return of Uma Bharti well it will be a huge achievement for the party as she is a mass leader and can bring in the votes when it matters. As for Jaswant Singh, people like him bring in moderate face to the BJP and acceptability among the general masses. BJP as a formidable opposition will always be an option against the Congress paving the way for better governance in the country.