Uma Bharti's return to the Bharatiya Janta Party, six years after she was expelled, has evoked mixed response in the party unit of Uttar Pradesh. The firebrand leader has been entrusted the task of outlining the strategy for the next state assembly elections in 2012 by BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
While state BJP president Surya Pratap Shahi has welcomed the move and praised her for her prominent role in the Ayodhya Ram Mandir movement, former state BJP chief and Bajrang Dal founder Vinay Katiyar is not too hopeful about her chances of putting the party back on the tracks in India's most populous state.
"I am sure Umaji will prove to be a strong women leader in our state unit. She is going to be a big asset, as everyone is aware of the key role played by her in the Ram temple movement," Shahi told journalists.
But Katiyar had a different view on the issue. "I do not think that the induction of a new face will make much of a difference to the party in UP, where there is no dearth of leaders," he said.
Katiyar hastened to add, "In any case, she was clearly a more recognised face in Madhya Pradesh to where she belongs."
Significantly, ousted BJP veteran Kalyan Singh, who is struggling to establish his new independent party, refused to make any comment on Uma Bharti's return to the BJP fold.
"I will not say anything on the issue," he curtly told this scribe.
Political observers point out that Singh's silence on the issue was a "well calculated" one, as Uma Bharti's appointment as the election in-charge of UP may throw a spanner in the works for him.
Uma Bharti, like Singh, is a member of the backward Lodhi caste. Her entry as the BJP's trump card in UP may hamper Singh's game-plan to wean the Lodhi community vote-bank away from the saffron party.
Katiyar's apparent displeasure over the move too was seen in the same light as till now, he was the only prominent leader from a backward community in the BJP ranks in UP.
