(Image source from: Will Uma Bharti contest against Sonia Gandhi?})

BJP leader Uma Bharti was suggested to be a fit candidate to contest election against Congress President Sonia Gandhi by Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev. So will Uma Bharti take up the challenge in Rae Bareli, in Uttar Pradesh?

As of now, Bharti, 54, has deflected the decision of her constituency to BJP's central leadership. According to NDTV, the Saffron leader said Ramdev's proposal was to the BJP. And it's the BJP leadership who will reply to the Yoga Guru's proposal.

Bharti also said that she has been campaigning in Jhansi at present.

Earlier, Baba Ramdev had suggested at a press conference that Uma Bharti would be fit candidate to defeat Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli constituency. The Yoga Guru even said that he was ready to do a door-to-door campaigning for Bharti in case she is fielded from the Gandhi family's bastion.

Uma Bharti has been announced as BJP's candidate from Jhansi. The saffron party has not yet declared its candidate from Rae Bareli and Amethi. The two constituencies are identified as the Gandhi family's stronghold.

Sonia Gandhi has been representing Rae Bareli since 2004 in the Lok Sabha. In 2009 the Congress President won with a wide margin of 3.72 lakh votes.

Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had been representing Rae Bareli. In 1984, after her assassination Rajiv Gandhi asked his cousin Arun Nehru to represent the seat. He won on a sympathy wave.

But in 1996, the Rae Bareli seat was captured by BJP's Ashok Singh, who retained it in 1998 as well. However, Captain Satish Sharma, a close friend of the Gandhi family, won it for the Congress in 1999. And in 2004, Sonia Gandhi contested from Rae Bareli to clear the way for Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.

(AW: Pratima Tigga)