Chouhan pushes key UP post for Uma
The BJP’s Madhya Pradesh unit, led by chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, is lobbying for Uma Bharti to be given an important post in the party’s Uttar Pradesh unit to keep her away from her home state. Both Mr Chouhan and Ms Bharti are considered as sworn rivals. The saffron sanyasin, who is also former Madhya Pradesh CM, was reinducted in the BJP in 2011.
The BJP had claimed that both the leaders had buried the hatchet when Mr Chouhan agreed to campaign for Ms Bharti, who contested the Charkhari Assembly constituency in UP’s Bundelkhand region. Ms Bharti had opposed Mr Chouhan’s appointment as the Madhya Pradesh CM and was later expelled from the BJP for indiscipline in 2005.
However, sources disclosed that Mr Chouhan wants Ms Bharti to be occupied in UP only, so he and other senior leaders from the state, including state unit chief Prabhat Jha, have been lobbying for Ms Bharti. These leaders, it was learnt, have even suggested to the BJP top brass that Ms Bharti should be made Legislative Party leader of the UP unit.
Sources said the party’s MP unit leaders, including Mr Chouhan, have been praising Ms Bharti for improving the BJP’s poll prospects in UP as well as her contribution in wooing OBC and “Hindu” voters for the party. But this, sources said, is only to keep the saffron sanyasin away from Madhya Pradesh politics.
It could be mentioned that the BJP’s Madhya Pradesh unit had strongly opposed Ms Bharti’s reinduction. At one point of time, Mr Chouhan, it was learnt, had even threatened to quit the CM’s post on the issue. It was only after BJP chief Nitin Gadkari and the RSS assured Mr Chouhan that Ms Bharti will be kept out of MP and will help the BJP in reviving its fortune in Uttar Pradesh, that he agreed.
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