NEW DELHI, 7 November 2004 — Upset over the denial of ticket to their candidate Anju Makhija for the post of Indore city mayor, former union minister and veteran BJP MP from Indore Sumitra Mahajan and two state MLAs Laxmansingh Gaud and Usha Thakur resigned yesterday from their posts. While Mahajan sent in her resignation to party president L.K. Advani, the two MLAs forwarded their letters to state unit chief Kailash Joshi.

The BJP leaders decided to quit after the party announced the candidature of Uma Shashi Sharma, who is supposed to be close to state PWD Minister Kailash Vijayavargiya. However, the leaders said that they would not quit the party on the issue. “I have sent my resignation from the post of MP to party President L.K. Advani to protest the procedures adopted in selecting the candidate for the post of mayor,” Mahajan said. “We were told that the selection was based on the opinion of ground workers. Since they don’t consider us the ground workers, therefore I have sent my resignation to the party president,” the former union minister said.

“We are feeling humiliated and ignored in the party,” Gaud said

In another setback to the BJP, a Hubli court in Karnataka hasissued fresh notices to the respondents, who had not been served earlier, on four criminal revision petitions challenging the discharge of the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and party general secretary, Uma Bharati and others in a decade-old criminal case. Bharati had already been served the notice.

Additional District and Sessions Judge John Michael D’Cunha had on Oct. 14 ordered issue of notices to all the respondents. But some were yet to be issued the notices.

Passing the order yesterday, the judge adjourned the case to Dec. 2 for further hearing. Four social activists, including Gowri Lankesh, had filed petitions challenging the discharge of Bharati and others by the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Mohammed Ismail. The JMFC had also dismissed the applications filed by them opposing the withdrawal of cases against Bharati and others.

Bharati, who was in judicial custody, was released on Sept. 6 after the JMFC discharged her in the case. Bharati and others were charged for various offences, including attempt to murder and rioting in connection with the violence that broke out during the BJP-led stir for hoisting the national flag at Idgah Maidan in Hubli in 1994.