Set aside ego and bring BSY back, Uma Bharti tells BJP leaders

The firebrand leader said those "at the helm of affairs" should take the initiative as "we should toe the line that 'the country first, individuals second'. Ego has to be set aside".

Asked if she would take the initiative to bring Yeddyurappa back into the party fold, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister said she was not a senior leader and does not consider herself eligible for the task.

"Those who are at the helm of affairs... they should do it," said Bharti, who was in the city for campaigning for party candidates of the May 5 Assembly elections.

Describing Yeddyurappa, who quit BJP late last year and formed a regional party Karnataka Janatha Paksha, as a "swayamsevak" who had been a dedicated BJP worker, Bharti said she had been attached to the former Karnataka chief minister. "He is like my elder brother."

"... and the message is that right now, our country is facing a crisis, the crisis in many forms, like never before. So, we all have to be together," she said favouring Yeddyurappa's return, adding, the BJP should not make any attempts to weaken the party.

Asked if BJP electoral prospects are better with or without Yeddyurappa, she said it's very difficult to say, but added that BJP is a cadre-based party.

Recalling that she was out of BJP for about five years, Bharti said she has realised that fighting the BJP only harmed "national interests", adding, she is sure others who had left BJP felt exactly the same way.