BJP hopes Kalyan Singh return will contain BC votes division

With the return of Kalyan Singh, the BJP is hopeful of consolidating the OBC vote in its favour in Uttar Pradesh, the most crucial state in the party's strategy for Lok Sabha elections.

Singh, a former chief minister of the state, was on Monday appointed BJP vice-president by party chief Rajnath Singh, a day after he joined the party at Narendra Modi's rally in Lucknow.

BJP sources said the Lodh leader still held tremendous clout in UP, where the community could influence votes in around 18 seats. Kalyan Singh, along with Uma Bharti, they said, will help the BJP contain the division in the backward caste votes, particularly in Bundelkhand region.

Kalyan Singh's exit had left a vacuum in the party's OBC leadership in a state where caste equations and community politics have a sway over elections.

The Hindutva hardliner begun his address chanting "Jaishri Ram" but refrained from talking of Ayodhya from the dais. Modi has refrained from taking up the issue and instead has been focusing on development as the theme for his rallies across the country.

Singh had parted ways with the BJP in 1999 after his openly criticising the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He returned five years later but in 2009 quit, unhappy with the BJP over ticket distribution for Lok Sabha polls, and joined the SP.

He contested from Etah and won but later that year, and formed his own party— Jan Kranti Party (Rashtrawadi) in 2010. Last month he merged the party with the BJP endorsing Modi as prime ministerial candidate.