BJP firebrand Uma Bharati’s ire with the party leadership could go up by several notches if her most-trusted lieutenant, Prahlad Patel, is denied a ticket tomorrow to contest the Nohta Assembly bypoll in Madhya Pradesh, well-placed party sources indicated today. Bharati’s outburst at party chief Venkaiah Naidu last Friday (September 17) was the result of reports she heard that Patel may not be given the ticket, sources said. The list of by-election candidates released after the September 16 meeting of the Central Election Committee had not included his name. The candidate for the seat has to be declared by tomorrow — the last date of filing nominations — and there is considerable pressure from anti-Uma sections in both MP and Delhi not to give the ticket to Patel. The other contenders, sources said, are O.P. Rawat and Dasrath Singh Lodhi. Lodhi has a greater chance of getting the ticket for two reasons: He belongs to the Lodhi caste (as do Bharati and Patel), and as a newcomer, poses no threat to MP Chandrabhan Singh who vacated the Nohta Assembly seat. Bharati, BJP leaders concede, feels that the party has not appreciated her ‘‘sacrifice” enough and not given the kind of billing her Tiranga Yatra deserved. But the ‘‘last straw” will be the denial of ticket to Patel. Although BJP spin doctors have been trying to portray Bharati as a person ‘‘uninterested in the trappings of office” who would much rather concentrate on campaigns, the fact remains that she still enjoys power and would like to wield it in MP despite having given up the CM’s post. Already, her successor Babulal Gaur has made it clear that he is his own man. Her ‘‘temper tantrums” have worked in the past but she may have gone ‘‘too far” this time when she abused Naidu, sources said. However, given her appeal as a mass leader, the party cannot afford to sideline her and will use her extensively in the Bihar elections, BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley told reporters today. But Bihar elections are several months away and much can change in her mood and attitude by then.
