Chennai: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Uma Bharti said yesterday (Dec 9, 2003) that the new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government in her State would accord top priority to poverty alleviation programmes.

She told reporters at the Meenambakkam airport in Chennai that she would concentrate on the development of the infrastructure sector like roads and power and also on education.

Asked for her views on the construction of a Ram temple at Ayodhya, Uma Bharti said she was of the firm opinion that a temple should be constructed for Lord Ram in an area where the Ram Lala idol was being worshipped, as it was Lord Ram's birthplace.

On the defamation suit filed by her predecessor Digvijay Singh against her while he was in office, for levelling corruption charges against him, Uma Bharti said she would face it in a court of law. She said she would be appearing before the court in Bhopal on December 15.

Uma Bharti was in Chennai en route to Tirupati. She will offer worship at the Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala today (Dec 10).

PTI