MJP

MJP

The return of Uma Bharati to BJPfold seems to have sparked off a season of home coming for estranged members of the party in Gujarat. On Tuesday, former BJP Amreli President Balu Tanti rejoined BJP and there are many more members in the line.

Tanti had resigned from the BJP after former Home Minister Gordhan Zadaphia and Sunil Oza broke away from the party to form Maha Gujarat Janta Party (MJP). The founder-member Sunil Oza too resigned from the MJP on Monday.

BJP party officials said that Oza is also in talks with the state high command to return to the party. However, Oza refused to divulge his future plans. Oza insisted: "I have resigned from MJP to work among the rural mass in my constituency." He refused to comment on whether he would join BJP. "I am yet to make up my mind," he said.

BJP state president R C Faldu said, "This is just the tip of the iceberg, there are many more to follow." Both Tanti and Oza said that their main objective was the need to work for their respective constituencies.

Tanti who was paraded before media by the BJP said that he had joined MJP owing to his "extreme loyalty" to some leaders who had formed MJP. "I have now realised that BJP was the party which gives liberty to its workers to work without any hindrance," he said.

However, party sources said that talks were on to ensure that not just Oza but the MJP itself will merge with the BJP. MJP founder-president Gordhan Zadaphia said, "This is a political party, people come and go. We are gaining ground among the rural masses and hence there is no question of merging the party with BJP."