Monday, March 7 2005 10:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) grappled with the Jharkhand and Bihar situations; a new front appeared opening up with its firebrand leader Uma Bharti meeting senior party leaders in New Delhi yesterday (Mar 6, 2005) and reportedly pressing for a change of guard in Madhya Pradesh.

Uma, who returned to the capital on Saturday (Mar 5, 2005), held a series of meetings with senior leaders, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Saturday and a luncheon meeting with party General Secretary Arun Jaitley yesterday, party sources said.

Senior party leaders Sanjay Joshi and Bal Apte had called on her at the Madhya Pradesh Bhawan on Saturday.

The former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister is understood to have conveyed to the party leaders that the administration in the State was fast slipping into the hands of the bureaucracy and several of the party MLAs owing allegiance to her were being humiliated by officials, they said.

Incumbent Chief Minister Babulal Gaur has not taken action against such officials, including those involved in the recent incidents involving Seedhi MLA Jugal Kishore Bagri, the sources said.

Uma is also understood to have discussed her proposed Karimnagar to Ayodhya 'Ram Roti Yatra' on the twin planks of development and Ram Temple scheduled to begin on March 14, for which the party is yet to give a formal green signal.

While some Central leaders maintained that she was summoned to the capital and her March 10 dinner in Bhopal was cancelled at the behest of the top brass, her close aides attributed the cancellation to the State Budget on March 14.

The supporters of Gaur claimed she was summoned to the capital to allow him to function freely. However, the Uma camp claimed that the Central leadership was positive and open to considering a change of guard after the trial of strength in Jharkhand on March 15.