Uninvited campaigner

Uma Bharti may be the uninvited campaigner in the BJP camp, but the maverick leader is already in demand in Uttar Pradesh. Interestingly, Bharti continues to be the leader of her nearly-dead political outfit, which had faced a virtual rout in the recent Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, and has not rejoined BJP. She has been campaigning for the BJP candidates in eastern UP, where the party is hoping that the ‘Hindutva’ stir created by Varun Gandhi’s remarks in Pilibhit would spill over and override the complex caste equations in its favour.