At a time when allies appear to be deserting it, the BJP has begun to get back some senior expelled leaders. The first homecoming, on Thursday, was that of Jaswant Singh, ousted from the party 10 months ago at the instigation of the RSS for having praised Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah in a book.
Next on the reinduction list could possibly be expelled saffron sanyasin Uma Bharti, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister. Mr Jaswant Singh, Lok Sabha MP from Darjeeling, who was welcomed back in the presence of party president Nitin Gadkari, senior leader L.K. Advani, Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and others, said: “It’s good to be back with familiar faces.”
Mr Singh expressed “gratitude” to Mr Advani for taking the initiative for his return to the fold, while Mr Gadkari referred indirectly to earlier controversies while welcoming him back, saying the “past is past”.
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Mamata may meet Pranab today over ad
Age Correspondents
New Delhi/Kolkata
June 24: The mystery over how an advertisement with a picture of railway minister Mamata Banerjee was printed in a Bengali newspaper continued Thursday, with the footwear company saying the newspaper (owned, incidentally, by a Trinamul Rajya Sabha MP) would clarify matters.
Confusion also reigned over the railway ministry’s FIR lodged in Delhi Wednesday, with the Delhi police saying it had been sent to the Kolkata police, and the latter saying it was in the dark.
Ms Banerjee may discuss the matter over dinner with Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday evening.