Nearly six years after she was expelled from the party, firebrand Hindutva leader Uma Bharti was today re-inducted into the BJP that entrusted her with the task of looking after Uttar Pradesh which is going to polls next year.
Announcing her re-entry, BJP president Nitin Gadkari said Uttar Pradesh will be the main area of her work and she will have a "prominent role to play" there in the campaign of the party.
"The decision to reinduct her into the party was taken with consensus... BJP will get a new energy in Uttar Pradesh with Uma," he said.
52-year-old Bharti was expelled for indiscipline and defying the BJP's central leadership in December 2005 after she had objected to L K Advani's praise of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
Bharti had then formed her own outfit Bhartiya Janshakti Party.