A day after Bharatiya Janata Party rebel Uma Bharti pledged support for L K Advani for prime ministership, the Bharatiya Janshakti Party president said on Wednesday she would not put up candidates against the party and would campaign for it in the non-BJP ruled states.
"Among politicians, Advani is unparalleled. When I met him recently, I told him I don't want to be a part of BJP and
neither have we thought of being a part of National Democratic Alliance. We want to support him selflessly," Bharti told reporters.
Giving a word of advice for sulking Arun Jaitley, with whom she allegedly had problems when she was with the BJP,
Bharti said he should forget "differences" like the way she has "swallowed insults to make Advani Prime Minister".
Known for her mercurial ways as much as her firebrand politics, Bharti said she will campaign for the BJP. "But, I
have told Advani that I will not campaign in BJP-ruled states," she said, adding that she has requested party
president Rajnath Singh to decide her campaign schedule.
Bharti said after realising two months back that her party did not have the funds to contest the Lok Sabha, she
decided that the party should support the best candidate for Prime Ministership and Advani fits the bill. "I am supporting him for personal reasons as he is a father-like figure to me. He also has a very clean image. There are ideological reasons as well as my party was said to have a soft corner for BJP," Bharti, who had insulted Advani in front of TV cameras in 2006, said.
Bharti also had a word of advice for Jaitley, who is miffed by the appointment of Sudhanshu Mittal as co-convener
of BJP for the North East region. "I would appeal to my big brother Arun Jaitley that if I can swallow all the insults heaped on me when I left the party, he should forget the differences and work to make Advani Prime Minister," Bharti said.
The former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh also had a word of advice for Kalyan Singh, who is now friendly with SP. "His alliance with Mulayam Singh Yadav is not ideology- based. Mulayam cannot think about the good of the nation.
Instead of this alliance, Kalyan Singh should have stayed put at home and spent time with his grandchildren," Bharti said.
She also cautioned Varun Gandhi, now in the eye of a storm over his alleged communal comments, that "he should have
control over his emotions". Stating that she was once impressed by UP Chief Minister Mayawati, Bharti said, "I had sympathy for Mayawati as she is a Dalit and also a woman. But after that incident (where an engineer was allegedly killed for refusing to donate funds for the birthday) I lost all sympathy," said Bharti who demanded reforms to check the use of money power in elections.
Video: BJP warms up to estranged Uma Bharti