New Delhi:
With a strong eye on backward votes, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today fielded Uma Bharati from the Charkari assembly seat in Bundelkhand in the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
The decision to launch Ms Bharati, a prominent leader from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), onto the electoral field was cleared by the top hierarchy of the party.
Announcing her candidature, party president Nitin Gadkari said, "There had been talks that Bharti should be fielded in the assembly elections. I met her today and decided to field her in the elections...We are confident that she will win."
But he remained non-committal when asked whether the firebrand leader would be the choice for the Chief Minister's post if the BJP came to power. He, instead, said that a decision would be taken by MLAs who get elected after the polls.
Ms Bharati who was also the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, has been aggressively campaigning for the party in UP. Her presence is significant given her credentials as a Hindutva mascot apart from being a key OBC leader.
But her recent absence from campaigning for a brief period had triggered speculation that she was miffed over the party's decision to induct sacked BSP leader Babu Singh Kushwaha, another OBC leader, into the party fold. But those rumours of a sulking Ms Bharati were quickly laid to rest as she returned, after a brief bout of illness, to spearhead the party's electoral charge again.
Saying that her priority was to turn Uttar Pradesh into "Uttam Pradesh" if the party came to power, Ms Bharti slammed the Congress' 4.5 % minority quota move as "unconstitutional". The sub-quota, meant for backward Muslims, has been carved out of the existing 27% reservation for OBCs in government jobs and educational institutions.
"While the minority should get education and employment, it should not be at the cost of OBCs. They have been deprived of their rights," she said.
The 52-year-old leader had rejoined the BJP last year after being out of the party for nearly six years. She was expelled on charges of indiscipline and defying the party's central leadership in December 2005. She had then formed her own outfit, Bharatiya Janshakti Party.