This Article is From Mar 06, 2012

Uma Bharti takes responsibility for UP defeat

Uma Bharti takes responsibility for UP defeat
Uma Bharti, brought into Uttar Pradesh to serve as the BJP's face, says she has accepted responsibility for the party's below-average performance.

The BJP managed 47 seats, four down from the 2007 elections.

Critics have said that the BJP took a huge misstep when it brought in the sanyasin from her home state of Madhya Pradesh to UP where she also contested and won a seat in the Charkhari constituency.

Ms Bharti, however, was never declared the candidate for chief minister-another miscalculation according to analysts who say voters didn't like not knowing who they'd be selecting to head their government. "I refuse to get into this talk of chief minister or who is running for prime minister," Ms Bharti told NDTV.

When asked if she is among the group of six that the party has selected for its prime ministerial candidate for the next general election, she said she would not comment.

"You've become so mild. What happened to the outspoken Uma-ji?" Asked NDTV's Prannoy Roy. "I'll take that as a compliment," she retorted, laughing.

The BJP has also been grilled about the absence of one of its biGgest leaders, Narendra Modi, from the UP campaign. The Gujarat chief minister was upset with party president Nitin Gadkari's decision to give Mr Modi's pld rival, sanjay Joshi, a prominent role in managing the UP election. The BJP has said that Mr Modi was busy with his sadbbhavna mission-a series of fasts across Gujarat that he says promote communal harmony. Mr Modi will be up for re-election in his state in December.
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