On Monday, Uma Bharati launched yet another yatra. As the Bharatiya Janshakti Party chief increasingly finds herself out in the cold, even in her state Madhya Pradesh where she helped the BJP romp home to a resounding win in 2003, perhaps she hopes the yatra will put her back in public consciousness.

When Bharati walked out of the BJP legislature party meeting in November 2005 where Shivraj Singh Chouhan was named chief minister, she was confident the party would seek a reconciliation. Though very few BJP MLAs walked out with her, she kept asserting that she enjoyed the support of more than 100 MLAs, a boast that proved hollow.

Two years after she floated her outfit, she realised her arrogance was misplaced. Though she garnered support when she hit the road with her Ram Roti yatra in November 2005, her later attempts have progressively failed to attract attention.

Her ‘Sampark Abhiyan yatra’ that began on Monday from Maihar, a famous pilgrimage spot in Madhya Pradesh, will end in Bhopal on June 4. But this time no one is quite sure what’s prompted the yatra. With elections months away, even her party seems confused about the motive.

The party’s showing in the by-elections since she was expelled from the BJP has been poor. In fact, successive losses forced her to announce that her party will no longer take part in any by-election.

More than electoral losses, it is the loss of her bargaining power to return to the BJP that has harmed Bharati the most. Though she publicly rules out returning to her former party, insiders say she is just waiting for a call.

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