Jaswant Singh dons new role as BJP interlocutor

Six months after his expulsion from the Bharatiya Janata Party was revoked, senior leader Jaswant Singh has been entrusted the task of maintaining contact and improving relations with other political parties.

"Jaswantji has been given the post of an interlocutor by BJP President Nitin Gadkari. This has been done keeping in mind his public relation skills and the good equation he shares with other parties," said a BJP leader from the party headquarters in New Delhi.

The 72-year-old former external affairs minister was sacked from the BJP at the Shimla Chintan Baithak in August 2009 for his controversial book which praised Pakistan-founder M A Jinnah and held Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel responsible for partition.

Singh had not been given any major responsibility after his return to the BJP on June 24, 2010. Senior party leader L K Advani had said he was happy with Singh's comeback and it had brought a "sense of relief" to him.

Before his expulsion Singh was part of the Central Parliamentary Board, the BJP's most powerful decision-making body. But even after he has been assigned the new task he does not find a place at the BJP's national executive meeting to he held in Guwahati on January 8 and 9.

However, Monday's decision is also an indicator that Gadkari, who had mooted the plan of bringing back prominent leaders like Singh and Uma Bharti, also wants to reinstate them with more responsibilities.