On campaign track: Uma Bharti

Patna, Oct. 26: If Bihar is where political fortunes are made, Uma Bharti may just have found her moorings.

Having annoyed almost everyone in the Sangh, the BJP’s top- and middle-level leadership and senior party colleagues in Madhya Pradesh in her bid to recapture the chief minister’s post in the state, Uma is busy reinventing herself in Bihar. And from all accounts, she seems to be succeeding.

The firebrand sadhvi has been camping in the state for the last 11 days, addressing rallies, campaigning door-to-door and slowly worming her way back into the hearts of party leaders. She seems to have forgotten the recent strong-arm tactics she used in her attempt to dislodge Babulal Gaur, who succeeded her in Madhya Pradesh.

“I am in Bihar, campaigning for the party. I have no time for anything else,” Uma told The Telegraph.

Her party leaders, too, seemed to have forgotten the siege less than a fortnight ago, when more than a hundred legislators signed a letter to BJP chief L.K. Advani demanding Gaur’s ouster.

“She always gets good response,” said party general secretary Arun Jaitley, the man in charge of the BJP’s battle for the Bihar crown and one of Uma’s chief targets during her campaign to get back the chief minister’s post.

“She is one of our star campaigners,” said another senior BJP leader.

Last week, the BJP central leadership had got Uma to agree to campaign in Bihar. The former chief minister was handed a sop: the party would consider her demand for a change of guard in Madhya Pradesh after the Assembly elections were over.

“I will be coming back after the polling is over for the second phase. I will be campaigning for the third and the fourth phase. I have always been a loyal party worker. I will always work tirelessly,” Uma said.

She denies that her campaign in Madhya Pradesh was to wrest back the top seat.

“The letter that the legislators wrote was for the change of leadership in MP. They signed the letter. I feel responsible for the state. After all, we won by a two-thirds majority in that state under my leadership,” she said.

“But I have never said I want the post. Those who are spreading the rumours are out to malign me,” she added.

A senior party leader said the sadhvi is sure to be rewarded for her work in Bihar. “The only problem with Uma is that she has not learnt to work well in structured organisations. Otherwise, she is a very talented person. Both Atalji (Atal Bihari Vajpayee) and Advaniji look at her antics very objectively. But she has managed to annoy almost everyone else in the party. But her work in Bihar is extraordinary. I am sure it will not go unrewarded,” the leader said.