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Pressure from Sangh Parivar: Uma Bharti

Bareilly: Sangh Parivar's pressure to check division of Hindu votes in Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls prompted withdrawal of candidates of Bhartiya Janshakti Party from the fray, its president Uma Bharti said here on Saturday.

``I was under pressure of the Sangh Parivar to check division of Hindu votes and, therefore, withdrew my party's candidates from the poll fray,'' she told reporters here.

Ms. Bharti said she had done her job in consolidating Hindutva forces and it was now up to the BJP to show its mettle in garnering Hindu votes en masse.

To a question, she said she would neither join the BJP nor merge her party with it, adding that she would oppose any move by the BJP to support the Samajwadi Party in the event of the latter failing to get majority.

Referring to BJP's Chief Ministerial candidate Kalyan Singh, she said he knew very well that the BJP was not the same party any longer.

At a separate press conference, Kalyan Singh said Ms. Bharti's decision to withdraw candidates from the fray would help his party gain majority in the Assembly polls.

He said his party would ban acquisition of farmers' land for setting up economic projects in the event of BJP romping home at the hustings. -- PTI

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