Happy birthday Uma Bharati, Govindacharya

New Delhi, May 2 It promises to be two days of celebrations for Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) former mascots Uma Bharati and Govindacharya, with the dissident sanyasin's birthday falling on Thursday and her ailing close aide's on Wednesday.

Uma Bharati, who heads the Bharatiya Janshakti party, celebrates her 48th birthday Thursday amid talk of her rejoining the BJP. But before that, her political guru and best friend, the one time BJP ideologue K.N. Govindacharya will party in his temporary home in south Delhi's Vasant Kunj.

The two were not available for comment. 'Govindji is resting and Uma Bharati has gone out,' said friend Ajit Kumar when attempts were made to contact them at C-5 Vasant Kunj where they are staying.

Uma Bharati and Govindacharya's friends were cagey and unwilling to say what kind of celebrations were in the offing for the two.

Kumar only said: 'Nothing special, nothing big, just a few friends have promised to drop in and be with Govindji.'

Govindacharya's birthday assumes significance for his friends as he has only recently recovered from a blood clot in his brain after undergoing an urgent operation at Delhi's Apollo Hospital.

Referring to speculation that Uma Bharati was merging her fledgling outfit with the BJP, he said it was a remote possibility. 'At least I haven't heard anything of the sort.'

Her friends also refused to attach any serious political significance to her decision to withdraw her party candidates halfway through the Uttar Pradesh elections.

'In any case, her real influence remains confined to a few seats in Bundelkhand and polling on these seats was already complete when she announced her decision to withdraw her candidates from the electoral fray,' said a BJP activist.

(c) Indo-Asian News Service

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