Yet another Uma associate rejoins BJP

BHOPAL: In yet another setback to Bharatiya Janshakti Party (BJS) founder- president Uma Bharati, her close aide Bhagwandas Sabnani on Tuesday rejoined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with more than 200 of his supporters.

Sabnani went to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's residence here Tuesday afternoon and announced that he was rejoining the BJP.

Chouhan, Health Minister Gauri Shankar Shejwar, Madhya Pradesh BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar, state BJP organising secretary Makhan Singh, and several other BJP leaders were present on the occasion.

Bharati had launched the BJS in April 2006 after being expelled from the BJP. She had been claiming that hers was the "real" BJP but has been facing desertions one after the other.

Earlier, political stalwarts like Gauri Shankar Shejwar and Raghunandan Sharma had left the BJS to rejoin the BJP.

Some months ago, Uma loyalist Prahlad Patel had deserted her to float a parallel BJS.