NEW DELHI, 21 August 2004 — The ruling coalition yesterday turned the tables on the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over a warrant against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharati, forcing Parliament to adjourn without transacting much business.

Opposition protests against the “insult” to Hindu ideologue Vinayak Savarkar were matched yesterday by an equally loud demand for the resignation of Bharati who faces a non-bailable warrant for rioting and attempted murder.

On the back foot after many days, the BJP said it would decide in a meeting on Monday what to do about Bharati in view of the case against her for allegedly hoisting the national flag at the Idgah Maidan in Karnataka’s Hubli district and giving an inflammatory speech, which had led to communal violence in the area, resulting in the death of at least six people Aug 1994.

A piqued Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee admonished the MPs severely, announcing he would not allow such behavior in the house “even if members wanted him removed from the post”.

The BJP and its ally Shiv Sena stalled proceedings, demanding an apology from Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar for ordering the removal of Savarkar’s name from a memorial in Port Blair in the Andaman Islands.

But members of the ruling coalition countered the opposition’s protests with its own slogans against Bharati.

If Shiv Sena MPs came prepared to block business for the fourth day on the Savarkar issue, Speaker Chatterjee was equally ready to prevent the ritual of slogan shouting and adjournments yesterday. The moment he took the chair, Chatterjee called for questions to be raised, not heeding the rising protests from the opposition benches.

Meanwhile, confusion prevailed in Madhya Pradesh with a senior BJP leader claiming in New Delhi that Bharati had resigned, which the latter has denied.

There were also reports of the Madhya Pradesh BJP unit beginning a search for a possible incumbent following a comment from former Union minister Sushma Swaraj saying that Bharati had resigned yesterday.

Bharati had told reporters Thursday in New Delhi that she would not resign from her post in the wake of the arrest warrant.

Bharati yesterday denied having quit her post. “There have been no talks on my resignation,” Bharati told a TV news channel in New Delhi while talking about her meeting with senior BJP leaders in the national capital.

The previous Karnataka government had withdrawn all cases against her in 2002, she said. “But the new government has reopened the cases against me.

“The Congress was in power at the state in 2002 and it is again in power. But there is one difference. Sonia Gandhi is at the helm of the Congress,” she said.

Bharati accused the Congress’ move as politically motivated.

— Additional input from IANS.