Uma Bharti versus Sonia Gandhi? BJP leader may contest from Rae Bareli as well

NEW DELHI: With BJP yet to declare its candidate against Congress President Sonia Gandhi, political circles are abuzz with the possibility of Uma Bharti contesting from both Jhansi and Rae Bareli.

According to Times Now, the announcement of her candidature from Rae Bareli as well is likely with RSS believed to have given its nod for the same. Last week, while ruling out the possibility of leaving her Jhansi seat, Uma Bharti had said that she is willing to contest from Rae Bareli as well if the party asks. "I can't leave Jhansi, if they(BJP) want to add Rae Bareli then I can contest from both," Bharti had said.

BJP is actively considering doing to Congress what Congress has done to it - pit a star against the rival's star. From Rae Bareli and Amethi, Sonia Gandhi's and Rahul Gandhi's constituencies, BJP is weighing the option of fielding, respectively, firebrand leader Uma Bharti and combative Smriti Irani. Though a final decision has not been taken, talks are at an advanced stage in BJP, senior party leaders who did not wish to be identified told ET.

Congress has fielded Rahul Gandhi aide Madhusudhan Mistry against Narendra Modi in Vadodara and has said it will nominate a heavyweight in Modi's other constituency, Varanasi. Digvijaya Singh has said he's willing to be Congress candidate in Varanasi. Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said Congress will soon announce its Varanasi nominee.

Ex-Punjab chief minister Amrinder Singh is Congress candidate against BJP heavyweight Arun Jaitley in Amritsar.

ET has learnt the proposal to field party stars against Sonia and Rahul Gandhi was discussed at the central election committee meeting that dealt with Uttar Pradesh seats.

A senior leader said Irani's name was proposed at the meeting by some CEC members and it was suggested that as she's a Rajya Sabha member already, she has "nothing to lose" in the event she fails to defeat Rahul Gandhi in Amethi. Irani did not respond to ET's queries. This leader said a BJP heavyweight for Rae Bareli was also a proposal but at that meeting Bharti's name wasn't proposed since she had already been allotted Jhansi.

BJP leaders said Ramdev had proposed that Bharti be pitted against Sonia but the issue with Bharti's Rae Bareli candidature is that Bharti has asked she be allowed to retain the Jhansi nomination as well.