Nine months after he was expelled from BJP for publishing a book lavishing praise on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, former Union minister Jaswant Singh is set to return to the party.
Mr Jaswant Singh, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Darjeeling in the general election held last year, has since his ouster from BJP been in political hibernation.
All that may end soon, thanks to the efforts of former deputy prime minister L K Advani, who has been egging on his party colleagues to re-embrace the former Union minister.
A formal announcement about the decision to reinduct Mr Jaswant Singh is, however, likely to be made only after BJP president Nitin Gadkari’s return from his European tour.
The ice between the veteran leaders was broken when Mr Advani invited his estranged colleague to accompany him to Jaipur last week to attend former vice-president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s cremation.
“I think it was very courteous of Advaniji to invite me to join him and some of his other colleagues who were going to Jaipur for Bhairon Singhji’s cremation. I was very touched that Advaniji asked me to go with him,” Mr Jaswant Singh told a news channel on Friday.
“I find that this is a commodity that is essential between colleagues who have worked together. Why should all of it automatically be attempted to be poured into a jar of political convenience,” he asked.
When asked whether he was returning to the BJP, the Darjeeling MP replied. “I’m not affirming. Did I?” On being asked whether he felt he still belonged to BJP, he said: “I spent 32 year there (BJP). How can I get it out of my blood stream?”
He, however, was unapologetic about his biography on Jinnah. “Oh no, absolutely not, certainly not. That (the book) is an expression of my views.”
It was the publication of the book “Jinnah: India Partition Independence” which had led to his ouster from BJP on August 19 last year. The party had simultaneously disassociated itself from Mr Jaswant Singh’s assessment of Jinnah, as also Sardar Patel, the country’s first home minister.
However, while Mr Advani may have succeeded in persuading his party colleagues to take back Mr Jaswant Singh, he had no such luck in his attempts to facilitate the return of another estranged colleague, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti.
The mercurial leader’s endeavour to snuggle herself back into the party fold — she quit the outfit she had earlier formed, the Bharatiya Janashakti Party to signal her readiness to return to the BJP — was resisted by all the senior leaders, as also by almost the entire Madhya Pradesh unit.
Reports of her possible return to BJP was opposed by almost all the top-ranking leaders in the state, who felt that she’ll make things difficult for chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Mr Advani also appears to have upset the BJP’s Bihar unit, and its coalition arrangement with the JD(U), by trying to impress upon them the need to induct another former Union minister Mr Digvijay Singh into the party.
The Banka MP shares a very hostile relationship with chief minister Nitish Kumar, and was one of the co-sponsors of the Kisan Mahapanchayat — a platform of upper caste leaders opposed to the chief minister — held earlier this month in Patna.
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