The Hindu : National : BJP, Uma may part ways

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Monday, Dec 05, 2005

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National

BJP, Uma may part ways

Neena Vyas

Replies to notice; may soon announce formation of political outfit

"The BJP is mine and the flag belongs to me"

NEW DELHI: A parting of ways between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti was strongly indicated here on Sunday, with Ms. Bharti replying to the party's notice and launching a direct attack on the central leadership "for straying away from the ideological path laid down by the BJP's "guru" Deendayal Upadhyaya.

In response to the November 30 show-cause notice issued by the BJP Parliamentary Board, Ms. Bharti shot off a letter to party president L.K. Advani from Raisen, one of the halts on her Ayodhya `padayatra.'Addressing a rally, she criticised Mr. Advani and the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, for leading "a party that had no ideology and no principles." She also attacked the second-generation BJP leaders, saying that both Mr. Advani and Mr. Vajpayee had "surrounded themselves with a group" that did not represent either the people or the large body of party workers.

On Mr. Advani's remark in Pakistan in June, she said: "I would have rather died than offer flowers at [Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali] Jinnah's mazhar." She also slammed the party's `India Shining' slogan during the 2004 general election. She also said: "The BJP is mine and the flag belongs to me."

Ms. Bharti's close associates say that she will soon announce formation of a political outfit, based on the "original" principles on which the BJP's previous `avatar,' Jana Sangh, was set up.

The BJP leadership is preparing to face an onslaught from her against senior leaders in the next few days and weeks of her `padyatra.' It is also expected that she will keep up her campaign till the party's national council session, scheduled to begin in Mumbai later this month.

Gross indiscipline: BJP

BJP party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said that Mr. Bharti's response to the show-cause notice was received by Mr. Advani on Sunday. It is believed to be on the same lines as the "letter" that she read out at the Raisen rally. He said hers was a case of "gross indiscipline." There was "no place for indiscipline in the party." The party would also not tolerate attacks on its leadership.

BJP leaders said Ms. Bharti had suddenly discovered that the party had strayed away from its ideological principles. She had not found those faults when she was made a Cabinet Minister in the Vajpayee Government or Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister. "All vices in the BJP became apparent to her after Shivraj Singh Chauhan was made Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister," a senior leader said.

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