Decks cleared for Kalyan's re-entry into BJP

Decks have been cleared for the re-entry of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Kalyan Singh into the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Top BJP leaders met at the residence of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Friday to finalise a role for Singh in the party's UP unit.

"There was no opposition in the party on the move to bring Singh back," BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan told reporters.

In Lucknow, Kalyan heaped praises on Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's leadership. He said the party gains immensely from the prime minister's 'towering' personality.

"There is no exaggeration in the slogan 'sab par bhari atal bihari.' It is not not right to compare individuals, but Atalji has a towering personality," he said.

Kalyan Singh, who currently heads the Rashtriya Kranti Party, had launched a scathing attack on the prime minister soon after parting ways with the BJP in 1999.