The Hindu : National : BJP tries to restrain Uma Bharti

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 07, 2004

National

National

BJP tries to restrain Uma Bharti

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, NOV. 6. Efforts were made by the senior leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party today to rein in the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Uma Bharti, and put an end to rumblings within that the leaders were bending over backwards to accommodate her every demand.

The BJP president, L.K. Advani, spoke to Ms. Bharti today about the situation brewing as a result of her outburst against the general secretary, Pramod Mahajan.

The BJP MP from Indore, Sumitra Mahajan — who sent her resignation from the Lok Sabha to Mr. Advani to protest against Ms. Bharti's attempt to push her nominee for the Indore mayoral contest and other positions in the local body elections — has also been asked to come to Delhi to iron out the rough spots. Two other MLAs from the region had also sent their resignations from the Assembly to Mr. Advani to protest against the same.

Next meeting

The crisis within the BJP over Ms. Bharti's actions is expected to dominate the November 10 meeting of office-bearers — the first such conclave after Mr. Advani took charge last month. In an informal interaction with mediapersons, the party general secretary, Shivraj Singh Chauhan, sought to sidestep all queries pertaining to Ms. Bharti's actions. To questions on indiscipline within the party, he said this would also be discussed at the November 10 meeting.

About the rumblings within the party, Mr. Chauhan said: "The BJP is like a family and when a family grows large, there can be differences among its members. These will be sorted out." While stating that Ms. Bharti should be given credit for steering the party to victory in Madhya Pradesh, he maintained that the BJP's good show in the State was also due to the hard work put in by the workers.

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