Sunday, March 6 2005 13:28 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bhopal: Unfazed by speculations triggered by the recent tea party hosted by his predecessor Uma Bharti for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Babulal Gaur today (Mar 6, 2005) saw no threat to his office claiming he enjoyed "full backing of the party high command" and legislators.

"There is absolutely no threat to my Chief Ministership. The question of leadership change does not arise at all as I have got the party high command's backing and MLAs' support," Gaur said in an interview in Bhopal.

"The party leadership not only wants me to continue in office but has also given me a free hand to do the needful to maintain discipline and stability in order to ensure smooth functioning of the Government for speedy development of the State," he said.

Describing as "wild speculations and baseless" the reports about a section of party men wanting a change of guard, the Chief Minister asserted that such "guess works are meaningless as these are not based on facts".

Stating that no political colour should be attached to the tea party hosted by Bharti on March 1 in Bhopal, Gaur said, "I myself attended the tea party as I was also invited. There was nothing wrong in my presence there. I spent about 20-25 minutes."

Subsequently other party legislators including several Ministers joined the gathering and soon "all kinds of rumours started spreading, but I am not perturbed at all", he said.

The Chief Minister also plans to undertake State-wide tour to listen to grievances of party workers and ensure their redressed through intervention, if needed.