Uma Bharti returns to BJP

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti, who was expelled from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in December 2005 for indiscipline, was re-inducted in the party on Tuesday after almost five and a half years. The decision to re-induct Uma Bharti was taken just days after the BJP's national executive meet concluded in Lucknow. Announcing Uma Bharti's return in the BJP, party president Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday welcomed her in the party at the party's headquarters in New Delhi.

Uma Bharti was suspended from the BJP in November 2004 and served a show-cause notice following her outburst against Advani before the media. However, after her suspension was revoked and in May 2005 she became a member of the party's national executive. Later in the year, she was expelled from the BJP when she revolted again following the appointment of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. Bharti, who played a major role in bringing the BJP in power in 2003, ending 10 years Congress rule in the state, had to resign from the chief minister's post after a controversy involving the insult of the tricolor. In 2006, she formed a party called the Bharatiya Jan Shakti Party (BJSP).