The Hindu : National : Uma Bharti to campaign in Maharashtra

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Tuesday, Sep 07, 2004

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National

Uma Bharti to campaign in Maharashtra

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 6. The Bharatiya Janata Party today welcomed the Hubli court's decision to discharge the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Uma Bharti, in a case related to violent incidents in Hubli 10 years ago.

Its general secretary and spokesperson, Arun Jaitley, said at a press conference that the party would use Ms. Bharti extensively for election campaign in Maharashtra and later in Bihar next year. No decision had been taken on her "tiranga yatra," he said.

`No contradiction'

Mr. Jaitley refused say whether Ms. Bharti would be re-inducted as Chief Minister. He admitted that there was "no contradiction" in Ms. Bharti getting back the Chief Minister's post and campaigning for the Assembly elections.

A discussion on what should be done would be held on September 8 at party's the office-bearers' meeting in Bangalore.

Criticising the Karnataka Government, Mr. Jaitley said its credibility had been adversely affected owing to its changing stand in courts.

In the High Court on August 30 it said that it stood by its four-year old decision to withdraw the cases against Ms. Bharti. But a few days later, on September 4, in a magisterial court it said that it did not want her released, as the general public objected to the withdrawal of the case and she was planning a "yatra" from Hubli to Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar.

`Stand vindicated'

Mr. Jaitley said the State Government's "flip flop" was not dictated by the needs of law but by political considerations. "The State Government had used its power to constitute and withdraw cases in a political manner... " and that was wrong, he said. "The court's decision had vindicated the BJP's stand that there was no genuine case against Uma Bharti," Mr. Jaitley asserted.

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