Bhopal/New Delhi, August 21
Ms Uma Bharti today submitted her resignation as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister to the BJP high command, urging that her resignation be accepted irrespective of the verdict of the Hubli court.
Announcing this at a press conference at her residence in Bhopal this afternoon, she said she had sent her resignation to the BJP President, Mr Venkaiah Naidu, at 3 pm today, with the request to place it before the party’s parliamentary board for its acceptance.
She said the issue of “tainted ministers” was very important for the country and her party would not compromise on this.
She dared the UPA Chairperson, Ms Sonia Gandhi, to “show guts” by removing the tainted ministers from the Union Government.
Ms Bharti submitted her resignation in the wake of a Hubli court issuing a non-bailable warrant against her in a rioting case.
She said the Congress government in Karnataka had in the early 1980s imposed a ban on unfurling the Tricolour at Idgah in Hubli for no reason and she had managed to unfurl it there on Independence Day, defying curfew. It was a programme of the youth wing of the party.
She also announced that she would launch a “Tiranga yatra” on August 24 from Hubli to Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar via Kranti Maidan in Mumbai to highlight the significance of the National Flag.
The BJP Parliamentary Board is meeting on Monday to consider the resignation sent by Ms Bharti.
“The issue will be discussed at the parliamentary board meeting,” BJP Vice-President and spokesman Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
said in Shimla without elaborating when asked to comment on the development.
According to sources, Ms Bharti could be asked by the party high command to submit her resignation to the Governor. The BJP feels that her quitting would give the party a moral weapon for reviving the party’s political fortunes and to keep alive the its campaign against “tainted” ministers in the UPA government.
Former Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani’s decision to leave the Lok Sabha seat in 1996 in the wake of the hawala scam and not contest till he was cleared of charges is being cited as one example of setting moral standards.
The party is trying to kill two birds with one stone as some party leaders from Madhya Pradesh have been gunning for Ms Bharti. Her rigid and at times arrogant style of functioning has offended some leaders who have told the party high command that she is alienating the middle classes. She has also been accused of having a “coterie” around her that is taking decisions on her behalf and indulging in corrupt practices.
Already, names of those who could replace Ms Bharti are in circulation. BJP General Secretary Shivraj Singh Chauhan is being tipped to take over the reins from Ms Bharti.
While Mr Chauhan is being favoured by the central leadership, Ms Bharti, in the case of her eventual stepping down from the chief-ministerial chair, is pitching for her favourite Cabinet colleague Kailash Vijay Vargiya.
In Bhopal, Ms Bharti said it would not be proper for her to surrender before any court while remaining in the Chief Minister’s post.
