BHOPAL, 13 November 2004 — The suspension of fire-brand Hindu leader Uma Bharati from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is bound to cause division in the party’s rank and file in Madhya Pradesh.
Bharati was one of the senior-most leader of the party in the state and had played a key role in the BJP’s victory in the last year’s state assembly elections.
A virtual war has broken out in the state unit of the BJP following her suspension from the party.
While Bharati loyalists have come out openly defending their leader, the state unit has issued show cause notices to 54 leaders, including two ministers in the Babulal Gaur ministry, for supporting the ousted leader.
The party has sent show cause notices to, among others, Public Health Engineering Minister Sunil Naik and Irrigation Minister Anoop Mishra for “supporting the party’s sacked general secretary (Bharati).” Mishra is a relative of former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.
“The party has issued show cause notices to as many as 54 senior functionaries for extending support to Uma Bharti. They have been asked to reply by Nov 20 or face action,” BJP state President Kailash Joshi said.
The party has also sent notices to a few local leaders. Bharati was suspended from her party for six years Wednesday after her public outburst against senior BJP leaders and her defiance of party chief L.K. Advani.
But many have come out in support of the sacked firebrand leader.
PWD Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya asserted that Bharati had a strong mass support and described her suspension as “most unfortunate”.
“She (Bharati) has a massive support base at grass root level in Madhya Pradesh, she has extraordinary political talent to convince people and her image as a fighter paid dividends to the BJP in last year’s assembly polls,” he said.
Bharati led the party to a two-thirds majority in the 230-member state assembly in December.
She quit as the chief minister after a court in Karnataka served an arrest warrant in connection with a 10-year-old riot case. What has come as a surprise and worry for the party leadership is the support Bharati has earned from Anoop Mishra, who is Vajpayee’s nephew.
Many leaders also fear that the infighting would hit the party’s prospects in local body elections this month.
“This is the crunch time for the party. The leaders should avoid raking up the Uma Bharati issue, otherwise it will have serious implications,” a party leader said.
