Bhopal: Union Coal and Mines Minister Uma Bharti said on January 18 that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership had never asked her to quit the Cabinet nor ever offered the presidentship of the party's Madhya Pradesh unit.

"Neither the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee nor his deputy L K Advani have asked me to quit the Cabinet or become Madhya Pradesh BJP president," the minister told reporters.

"I want there to be an end to speculation in the media that I was tipped to take over as Madhya Pradesh BJP president," Bharti said, adding the next Assembly elections would be held under leadership of the present state BJP president Kailash Joshi.

She said Joshi had proved to be a lucky mascot for the BJP in the past also and expressed confidence that it will happen this time too.

Stating that personally she was against projection of any candidate as Chief Minister and termed it "undemocratic", Bharti said she was not in race for Chief Ministership.

PTI