Mamata, Nitish grew in strength due to our support: Uma Bharti

The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader also said the country was already on course to become ‘Congress mukt’ (free from Congress) and that the party’s dipping fortunes could be attributed to it having remained “captive to a family”.

 In a free wheeling interview, Bharti, who had trashed the possibility of Sonia Gandhi becoming the Prime Minister in 2004, said she has “love and respect” for her on a personal level but Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi “does not exist” in her mind.

When reminded how Trinamool Congress and Nitish Kumar-led alliance foiled BJP’s expansion plans in West Bengal and Bihar, she said, “Has Mamata Banerjee become what she is just like that? She emerged due to hard work of Sangh workers. Nitish Kumar did not emerge on his own. Nitish, Lalu got strength from us. They all will gradually become ineffective.

Mamata and Nitish will not win next time. Mark my words, we will form government in Bihar next time,” she said. Once the Hindutva mascot of BJP, Bharti was dismissive of regional parties posing any challenge to her party which she said lent its support base to them in the past around which “formidable fronts” were built to take on the Congress.

“We together used to wipe out Congress. Communists and socialist parties do this drama that we are communal,” she said.