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Bharatiya Janshakti leader rejoins BJP

BHOPAL: The Uma Bharti-led Bharatiya Janshakti leader Raghunandan Sharma rejoined the Bharatiya Janata Party here on Tuesday along with two other party functionaries, former Mandsaur district general secretary Satish Khurana and national executive member Anil Chawla.

Mr. Sharma was the national general secretary and later the Madhya Pradesh unit president of the Bharatiya Janshakti. He was vice-president of the Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party when he resigned from primary membership of the party to join Ms. Bharti’s new outfit last year. Recently Ms. Bharti dissolved all party units with the announcement that the new executive committees would be formed after all the disgruntled elements leave the party.

Mr. Sharma had started as a Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Pracharak at Mandsaur and was given the responsibility of managing the organisational affairs of the BJP in the early 1980s by party leader Kushabhau Thakre.

Announcing his return, State BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar told media persons on Tuesday that Mr. Sharma had returned to his old party as a primary member keeping in view its larger perspective. He said his return would strengthen the party.

Answering queries, Mr. Sharma said it was always advisable to leave a party when serious differences crop up. Even earlier he had left the BJP under adverse circumstances, Mr. Sharma said.

Asked to explain the immediate ground for leaving Bharatiya Janshakti, Mr. Sharma said that after the party took the stand that it would oppose Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the upcoming Gujarat Assembly elections he was left with no choice but to leave it. “A change of government in Gujarat would cause irreparable damage -- to the country as well as Hindutva,” he said.

Announcing that he would go to Gujarat and campaign for Mr. Modi, Mr. Sharma said “the road to Gujarat goes via the Madhya Pradesh unit of the BJP”.

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Bharatiya Janshakti leader rejoins BJP

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