NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party's central leadership has given strong signals that it will adopt a hard stance against general secretary Uma Bharti and her supporters in Bhopal, where vandalism on Monday tarnished the party's image. The word is that she will be suspended from the party when the BJP parliamentary board meets on Wednesday; if that happens, it will be the second time in less then 13 months.

The first signal came on Tuesday from the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who spoke to reporters immediately after the weekly parliamentary party meeting here. Responding to questions on the happenings in Madhya Pradesh, he said: "Indiscipline will not be tolerated, howsoever big the person and whatever the issue."

Mr. Vajpayee said what was witnessed in Bhopal when the central observers went there for the election of a new leader of the BJP legislature party was "the height of indiscipline." "While competition within the party was a sign of healthy politics," what happened there was a demonstration of "the lust for power that crossed all limits." The "people will not accept" when some fought for the "chair" and when "the chair becomes bigger than our ideals and idealism."

While Madhya Pradesh was apparently not discussed at the parliamentary party meeting, it was the subject of informal discussion at all levels. The second generation leadership — M. Venkaiah Naidu, Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley, Sanjay Joshi and Sushma Swaraj, among others — is united to see the back of Ms. Bharti, who won the party a handsome electoral victory in Madhya Pradesh less than two years ago. The BJP, some leaders said, was determined to "put the party above the individual." Ms. Bharti could be made an "example" for others who might fancy themselves as regional satraps, the leaders said, citing the ouster of Kalyan Singh after the 1999 Lok Sabha election.

Senior leaders hinted that while Ms. Bharti made allegations that some leaders got stories planted against her in the press — the most recent was that she threatened to immolate herself if she was denied chief ministership of Madhya Pradesh — "her own supporters had done this."

The leadership is not happy that Ms. Bharti did not stop her supporters from indulging in violence. The former general secretary, K.N. Govindacharya, jumping into the fray to defend her was the last straw.

Party leaders are angry that Ms. Bharti charged the central leadership with being undemocratic and unconstitutional in thrusting its choice of a new "leader" on the Madhya Pradesh legislature wing. "We took the decision as per the party constitution. The parliamentary board is fully competent to take such decisions," Mr. Jaitley said.

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