Eye to CM’s job, Uma plans to contest UP polls

Eye to CM’s job, Uma plans to contest UP polls

BJP leader Uma Bharti is reportedly keen on contesting the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, a move that could strengthen her claim to the chief ministerial assignment in the event of the party forming the Government in the State.

The BJP is going to polls under the collective leadership of former national president and Rajnath Singh, Rajya Sabha MP Kalraj Mishra, state unit chief Surya Pratap Shahi and Uma Bharti. If the BJP reaches close to forming the Government - though much would depend on candidate selection - one of these four leaders could be chosen to helm the affairs in the State.

Sources close to Bharti confirmed that she desired to contest, but added that a final decision to this effect would be taken by the party’s top brass. She is reportedly looking for a safe seat in Lodh dominated areas of Western UP or Bundelkhand.

“The matter has not been discussed at the appropriate level as yet. Once we reach that stage, due consideration would be given (to her case),” a senior BJP leader said.

Told to stay away from Madhya Pradesh, of which she had been the chief minister in the past, Uttar Pradesh is the only hope for Uma to re-establish herself in the party and compensate for the loss she suffered in five years that she spent outside the BJP.

Former UP CM Rajnath Singh, who is now the Lok Sabha MP from Ghaziabad, is the senior most among the four probables and his grasp over the State politics gives him an edge over the other three in the race for the top job. But it is unlikely that the party would ask him to contest the Assembly election. Belonging to Eastern UP, Singh recently shifted base to Western region of the state that had little room for the BJP.

Rajya Sabha MP Kalraj Mishra also nurses chief ministerial ambition and may be asked to contest from any assembly constituency in and around Varanasi. Being on the wrong side of the age, however, could be detrimental to his chief ministerial ambitions.

For his part, Shahi, belonging to the numerically insignificant Bhumihar community, has been a three-time MLC and served as minister in different BJP Governments.