Bharti return clouds MP Cabinet meeting

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Conflict of interests within the Madhya Pradesh unit of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party over the issue of Ms Uma Bharti’s possible induction in the party ended up casting its shadow on the state Cabinet meeting here on Tuesday.

Minister for Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation and former chief minister Babulal Gaur was at the centre of a heated debate during the state Cabinet meeting here on Tuesday. According to available information, Mr Gaur even threatened to resign when the chief minister advised his Cabinet colleagues to desist from issuing statements (on Ms Bharti’s possible comeback). Mr Gaur was not available for comments till the filing of this report.
Matters got precipated to such an extent that the regular Cabinet briefing, which was scheduled for 4 pm was subsequently cancelled. Over the past few days, state BJP leaders have been airing their views in the media to support Ms Bharti’s early induction. Prominent among them have been former Union minister and member of Parliament from Indore, Sumitra Mahajan and state minister for industry and former Indore Mayor Kailash Vijayvargiya.
The state BJP President Prabhat Jha has come out heavily against state BJP leaders airing their views publicly on this issue. He told mediapersons here that the party leadership has not consulted him yet about Ms Bharti’s induction. While emphasising that as state party president he has a definite role to play when it comes to inducting anyone as a BJP member in Madhya Pradesh, Mr Jha said that the decision regarding Ms Bharti is the prerogative of BJP’s Parliamentary Board.
The state BJP unit is presently divided into two major factions. One comprises of those who are closely aligned with the power centre and are interested in maintaining the status quo. On the other side are those who strongly feel there is need to balance the power equation within the ruling state party unit and it is this faction that has started floating the idea of Ms Bharti’s prompt return to the parent party fold. Significantly pro-Bharti voices have surfaced in a big way after senior state minister Anup Mishra, who is a nephew of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, was forced to resign after an FIR was registered against his son and relatives over a murder linked with a land scandal at Gwalior.
The MP chief minister, Uma Bharti had resigned in August 2004 when a non-bailable warrant was issued against her by a court in Karnataka. Babulal Gaur had succeeded her as chief minister. Next year, she was sacked from the party when she came out openly to oppose the process for electing Shivraj Singh Chouhan as leader of BJP legislator party and his elevation as the new CM. In her subsequent public speeches, Ms Bharti had kept repeating: “MP government is her baby and it had been hijacked by those who had conspired against her”.