Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 31 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Tuesday extended his party’s support to “Samagar Ganga (integerated Ganga)” campaign of former party leader Uma Bharti for the river’s conservation.

“BJP is fully with you in support of your pledge. We will consider ourselves fortunate if the party can be of help in any manner in this movement,” Gadkari said in response to Bharati’s May 20 letter.

“I came to know about the Samagra Ganga movement and the efforts you are making towards it. It is a matter of satisfaction that you have got some success in your efforts but complete success is still to come,” Gadkari said in his letter.

He said Uma Bharti’s campaign was associated with safeguarding the national pride and culture.

“It is a matter of great happiness that you have taken the pledge to complete this work. I have full faith that you will succeed in this,” he said.

Party sources said that Gadkari is among the leaders who want Bharti, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, back in the BJP but there is resistance to the proposal from a section of the party. Some senior leaders of the party feel Bharti would prove an asset in Uttar Pradesh where the party’s fortunes have declined in the past few years.

Former BJP president Rajnath Singh had Monday supported the initiative of Uma Bharti, who is on a fast in Uttarakhand’s Haridwar in support of her campaign.

She has called for setting up a separate board consisting of environmentalists, scientists and religious-minded persons to prepare a report about Ganga and Himalayas.

She has also demanded a law for conservation of the river.