New Delhi, November 18
Expelled BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti, expressing her willingness to apologise to BJP President, L.K. Advani for her outburst during central office-bearers meeting on November 10, also put a condition today that the party should apologise to her on some counts.
In a letter to Mr Advani, she expressed her regrets for having hurt him by her action at the meeting as she considered him not only her “political ideal but a father-figure”.
Through this letter, Ms Bharti has tried to divide the party between Mr Advani and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on the one hand and the rest of the party leaders, sources said.
Ms Bharti was seeking to put herself on a higher pedestal than the rest of leaders, the sources pointed out.
“I am not writing this letter craving for revocation of my suspension. For, I have to rethink on the issue of revocation of suspension. This decision cannot be one-sided but a two-way affair,” Ms Bharti said in the two-page letter from somewhere en route to Kedarnath.
Copies of the letter were circulated to the Press here by her aides in which Ms Bharti has stated that she is writing a confidential letter to Mr Advani that shall offer suggestions about the party and its course.
Ms Bharti said the party owed an apology for charging her with taking credit for her campaign on issues like self-reliance, which she said she had done for the sake of national interest.
“I will never harm the BJP. But I will always pray to God that the party follows the right path,” she said.
“I feel sad personally for having hurt you because you are not only my political ideal but a father-figure,” Ms Bharti said in the letter, adding that since Mr Vajpayee was also present at that meeting, she was writing an identical letter to him too.
