The Hindu : Front Page : Babulal Gaur sworn in Chief Minister

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Aug 24, 2004

Front Page

Babulal Gaur sworn in Chief Minister

By Lalit Shastri

The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Uma Bharti, addresses party workers after the BJP legislature party meeting in Bhopal on Monday. — Photo: A.M. Faruqui

BHOPAL, AUG. 23. The senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Home Minister in the Uma Bharti Cabinet, Babulal Gaur, was today sworn in Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Mr. Gaur, who succeeds Ms. Bharti, was earlier elected leader of the BJP Legislature Party by consensus.

In the morning, the BJP Parliamentary Board met in New Delhi and approved Ms. Bharti's request to step down as Chief Minister in the wake of the non-bailable warrant issued against her by a court in Hubli, Karnataka, in a 10-year-old case.

The case is linked to a rioting and police firing incident in which some persons were killed after Ms. Bharti attempted to hoist the national flag at Hubli's Idgah Maidan on August 15, 1994.

On Monday night, Ms. Bharti had announced at Indore that she would quit office as a Karnataka police team was on its way to serve her the warrant.

The BJP general secretary, Arun Jaitley, who is in charge of Madhya Pradesh, was present at the legislature party meeting here today, along with another national general secretary, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, and the State party president, Kailash Joshi, and other leaders. The State BJP office, where this meeting was held, was packed with slogan-shouting supporters of Ms. Bharti when she reached there.

'Tomorrow is hers'

Hailing Mr. Gaur's election, Mr. Chauhan said that Ms. Bharti had relinquished office on moral grounds. She has been in the forefront leading the Ayodhya temple movement and had crusaded against foreign infiltration. Also, she had upheld the dignity of the national flag. He expressed gratitude to her on behalf of the party's central leadership. Asserting that the party stood by her, he said the "history of tomorrow belongs to her."

Mr. Chauhan said that Ms. Bharti had opened a new chapter of development and he had a special word of praise for her "Panch-ja" campaign in Madhya Pradesh, which is associated with forests, people, animals, water and land. Mr. Jaitley thanked the BJP MLAs for cooperating in electing Mr. Gaur. He said the Karnataka Police team that was on its way to Bhopal to serve the warrant on Ms. Bharti had "probably" returned to Karnataka. He informed them that Ms. Bharti would leave for Goa by train tonight. From there she would go to Hubli to surrender to the court.

Mr. Gaur expressed his gratitude to the MLAs for reposing faith in him. The Congress, he said, was being "vindictive" towards Ms. Bharti only because she had tried to hoist the national flag at Hubli.He extended full support to Ms. Bharti saying that he would also join in hoisting the national flag at Hubli.

Addressing the MLAs, Ms. Bharti narrated an anecdote linked with Shivaji and said "when the Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb had sent Mira Raja Jai Singh to wage a war against him, Shivaji had sent him a letter saying two tigers should not fight to pave the way for a hyena to rule them." Without directly referring to the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, he cited this as an example, and appealed to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh and the Karnataka Chief Minister, Dharam Singh, saying that they should "free themselves from Italy and a foreigner's shadow."

Track record

Mr. Gaur is one of the seniormost BJP MLAs and had earlier served as Cabinet Minister in the Sunderlal Patwa Government between 1990 and 1992. He is well known for his penchant to keep the State capital clean and encroachment-free in his earlier capacity as the Local self Government and Urban Administration Minister. Recently, after being given the Home portfolio, he was especially in news when he said that not a single Muslim from Madhya Pradesh had any links with the terrorist outfits within and outside India.

After he was elected leader, Mr. Gaur drove straight to the Raj Bhavan, along with Ms. Bharti and other senior BJP leaders, to meet the Governor, Balram Jakhar. Ms. Bharti's resignation and the formal letter proclaiming Mr. Gaur's election as the new legislature party leader were simultaneously handed over to the Governor. Shortly thereafter, at 7 p.m., Mr. Gaur was sworn in by the Governor at a hurriedly-held function.

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