Friday, Mar 28, 2014

New Delhi: Firebrand Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Uma Bharti on Friday turned down a request for her to take on the ruling Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi in the upcoming general elections.

Bharti, who in the past worked as a federal minister and chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, said she was already busy campaigning for the Jhansi seat where she was earlier nominated as the BJP candidate.

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev, who has aligned himself with the BJP, had earlier this week asked BJP to field Bharti from Rae Bareli, the traditional seat of Sonia’s mother in law Indira Gandhi.

Bharti’s decision to decline the demand of the Yoga guru, whom she termed as a guru and younger brother, has ended days of speculation over who would take on the Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi from her family bastion Rae Bareli seat of Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP has not yet named its candidates from Rae Bareli and Amethi, represented in the outgoing Lok Sabha by Sonia and her son Rahul Gandhi, the vice-president of the Congress party. The party is still in the process of scouting formidable candidates who could pose serious challenge to the mother and son duo.

“I have told Rajnath Singh (BJP national president) that I cannot leave Jhansi,” Bharti said yesterday.

Sonia has won the Rae Bareli seat thrice since shifting here in 2004 from neighbouring Amethi to make room for her son Rahul’s entry. Amethi seat was represented in the past by Sonia’s husband Rajiv Gandhi.

Ramdev had said that he would campaign door-to-door personally for Bharti and organise rallies for her.

“If the BJP wants to defeat Sonia in Rae Bareli, it must then field Uma Bharti from the constituency,” Ramdev had said.

“Ramdev is like a guru and younger brother to me. His proposal is for the BJP, the BJP has to give a reply,” Bharti said on Thursday, dropping broad signals that she was not very keen on taking on Sonia.

Bharti was instrumental in ending the decade-old Congress party rule in Madhya Pradesh and served as its chief minister for some time.

The party decided to field her from the Jhansi seat of Uttar Pradesh, which borders Madhya Pradesh, to improve its prospects in the Bundelkhand region. She is fighting against federal minister Pradeep Kumar Jain of the Congress party.

BJP had to shift Bharti to Uttar Pradesh since the incumbent Madhya Pradesh chief minister does not want her back in Madhya Pradesh politics, though Bharti had expressed her desire to contest form Bhopal seat in that state. After party leaders declined to offer her the Bhopal seat, she opted to seek re-election from Gujarat’s Gandhinagar constituency.

BJP is understood to be considering fielding film star and is Rajya Sabha member Smriti Irani from Amethi seat. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has already named is national council member Kumar Vishwas as its Amethi candidate.

All opposition parties are targeting to pin down the top two leaders of the Congress party and ensure a tough time for them. However, their efforts suffered a setback as the state’s ruling Samajwadi Party has decided not to field its candidates against Sonia and Rahul, terming it as reciprocal.

Congress party had not fielded its candidate against Dimple Yadav in the bye-election for Kannauj Lok Sabha seat after her husband Akhilesh Yadav became Uttar Pradesh chief minister in 2012.

By Ajay Jha Chief Correspondent

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