As the BJP leadership braces itself to receive rebel leader Uma Bharati’s reply to its showcause notice on her expulsion from the party, the sanyasin may just surprise them with a no-show notice. Uma Bharati says she is ‘‘in two minds about sending a reply’’.Speaking exclusively to The Indian Express at her rest house here, a day after she sent three conditions for an apology from her, Bharati said, ‘‘I am in two minds about sending a reply now. The charges against me are nothing others in the party have not committed. Yet they are still in the party and enjoying positions of power. Obviously, they are using these charges to expel me from the party. So, where is the need for me to reply?’’Bharati said she would not quit the party even if her membership was taken away. ‘‘I will not leave the party just because of the mistakes of three-four people. Anyway, what can they take away from me?’’She, however, added that she was a ‘‘known personality’’ even before she joined the BJP. ‘‘I have been known as a religious preacher in Madhya Pradesh since the age of six. Even today, people come to see me not because of directions from Delhi, but because they are from my constituency.’’While the fiery sanyasin may not be known for her negotiating skills, there is nothing accidental about her future. Settling down to dinner the night before, under a starlit sky, Bharati said she felt like she had suddenly discovered she was an orphan living with ‘‘adoptive parents’’.‘‘I worked for 20 years, walking, travelling in trains and planes, carrying party work ahead, whether it was the Ayodhya movement or state elections. This was family, but the people I thought were family turned out be just politicians.”And the charges are nowhere in consideration. ‘‘Advaniji condemned me in front of the media, it was okay, but when I uttered two words of protest, I was suspended. This is gender bias. When Sushma Swaraj publicly complained about losing her chief ministership to contest the parliamentary election, no one thought it was indiscipline. This is a caste bias.‘‘I believe the victory in MP was mine and most MLAs are with me. But where is the poor CM today? The poor fellow is not able to form his Cabinet even five days after taking oath. A leader is elected by the MLAs but my fear is a leader elected by the central leadership will take care of their interests rather than the interests of the state.’’
