Bhopal, Oct 27 (IANS) Firebrand Hindutva leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti, who led the BJP to its landslide victory in 2003 polls, has not found a place in the saffron party’s 40-member list of star campaigners for the November 17 Assembly polls.
The list of star campaigners released by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday includes Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party’s national president J.P. Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and 15 Union Ministers.
The list also includes Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, UP deputy CMs — Brijesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya, many current and former MP ministers and state BJP chief V.D. Sharma.
The list also has names of many state-based senior BJP leaders — Jyotiraditya Scindia, Narendra Singh Tomar, Faggan Singh Kulaste, Prahlad Singh Patel and Virendra Kumar, besides the party’s parliamentary board member Satynarayan Jatiya.
However, Uma Bharti, who was among the party’s star campaigners for the 2018 assembly polls and 2020 by-elections has not been named this time among star campaigners.
The BJP released the list of star campaigners for MP assembly polls a day after Bharti announced her plan to leave for the Himalayas.
In her social media posts, Bharti, however, praised CM Chouhan but cornered the Central government over the Ken-Betwa inter-river linking project.
The veteran BJP leader also expressed her unhappiness over efforts for protection of cows in the state.
“The idol of Goddess Saraswati is still not returning at Dhar Bhojshala despite BJP regimes in the state. While the centre and gates of the Someshwar Temple in Raisen district and Vijaya Devi Temple in Vidisha district are still awaiting opening, despite assurances from a key national BJP leader,” one of her social media posts read.
The 64-year-old politician, who has repeatedly said that she will fight the next Lok Sabha polls and will continue to be in active politics till last gasp, had campaigned for BJP candidates in the 2018 assembly polls and the 2020 assembly by-polls in the state.
