Dr Shakti Kumar Pandey from Lucknow
THREE recent developments are going to propel the Bhartiya Janta Party into a very powerful position in UP just before the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. And these are – the unanimous election of Shri Laxmi Kant Bajpai as UP BJP President, the return of the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh to BJP’s fold, and last, but not least, the return of Shri Rajnath Singh to the position of BJP’s National President.
It is believed that the power in Delhi is gained through the route of UP only. And now UP seems to be preparing for a headlong battle against the communal policies of Samajwadi Party, casteist strategy of Bahujan Samaj Party and the most corrupt Congress Party, that has set a record in scams.
The former CM Kalyan Singh, during whose tenure the Babri Masjid was demolished in Ayodhya in 1992, returned to the BJP fold once again when the other day he announced the merger of his Rashtriya Kranti Party (RKP) with the BJP. Addressing a massive rally at Jhule Lal Park here, an emotional Kalyan Singh said that he had wished for long to return to the party he had served all his life. “I have been brought up in the BJP and I have the values of the RSS in my blood. I am happy to be back,” he said, amidst thunderous applause of the people.
Fuelling the enthusiasm of the people, Kalyan Singh said his wish was that when he died, he would be draped in the BJP’s flag. The three-time chief minister said he would ensure that the party regains its foothold in Uttar Pradesh. “With better coordination between leaders of the party, its workers and supporters, we will create a new record of seats in the next Lok Sabha polls,” he added.
The Jankranti Party – headed by his son Rajveer Singh, which Kalyan Singh founded in 2010 – also merged with the BJP. However, the former chief minister chose not to ‘officially join the BJP’ yet due to technical reasons. The reason for this was that BJP leaders do not want Kalyan Singh, already a Lok Sabha member from Etah, to contest elections so soon.
Even BJP leader Rajnath Singh, once Kalyan Singh’s arch rival within the party, welcomed him back and said the latter was “a better chief minister” than him. Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharati welcomed Kalyan Singh into the party fold and called him a “father figure”. Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari, senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi, MP from Lucknow Lalji Tandon and state BJP president Laxmikant Bajpai also welcomed Kalyan Singh into the party fold.
The huge rally gave an opportunity to the BJP leadership to condemn the Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde who made absurd statements about ‘Bhagwa Dhwaj’, blaming the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh for holding terrorist camps. Virtually sounding a battle cry against the Congress, Nitin Gadkari had declared, “we will stage a country-wide demonstration on January 24 against the Union home minister’s anti-RSS remark with one slogan – Hindu Bhagwa ka Apman, Nahin Sahega Hindustan” (such insult to the Hindu flag will not be tolerated by India.
The five-hour long rally was packed with top BJP leaders including Nitin Gadkari, Rajnath Singh, Kalraj Mishra, Murli Manohar Joshi, Laxmi Kant Bajpai, Uma Bharti, Vinay Katiyar and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who talked a lot about lot of work that they had done with Kalyan Singh in the party. Kalyan Singh emphasized on devoting all his energies in strengthening the BJP. He pushed his son Rajvir Singh ahead to announce the merger of their political outfit with the BJP.
Rajnath Singh showered praises on Kalyan Singh, saying that “UP has not seen a better chief minister than Kalyan Singh”. Describing Kalyan as “father like”, Uma Bharti told the gathering, “I owe a lot to Kalyan Singhji from whom I learnt my politics and could even claim to have more right over him than his son Rajvir.” She also used the occasion to make a satirical remark at Rahul Gandhi by adding, “I would like to remind Rahul Gandhi that his claim about having India in the Congress DNA was not true as that DNA would also have some element of Italy in it.”
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