Bhagat back in fold

Bhagat had been expelled barely seven months ago for 8220;anti-party activity8221;, when he contested the East Delhi seat as an independent in the May 1997 by-elections to the Lok Sabha. The official Congress candidate Ashok Walia had lost to Lal Behari Tewari of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Bhagat, on being taken back into the party, sent an emotional statement emphasising on how Sitaram Kesri, the All India Congress Committee AICC president, could not sleep for three nights when Bhagat had left the party. He, accompanied by his wife Asha Bhagat, had met Kesri and assured him of his loyalties. Though Kesri has not assured Bhagat of a ticket yet, he seemed hopeful of getting one and began attacking the BJP for their 8220;failure on all fronts8221;. Whereas, while praising Sonia Gandhi, he said: 8220;She is a patriotic Indian, married a patriotic Indian and has two good Indian children.8221; Bhagat maintained that whether he gets a ticket or not he would support whosoever Kesri chose. He also said that the Bofors weapon in the BJP armour would boomerang as there was no evidence to link the Gandhi family to the payoffs.