Tuesday, November 29 2005 13:16 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bhopal: Stepping up her offensive, firebrand leader Uma Bharti today (Nov 29, 2005) asserted she was the 'real BJP' and won't accept any disciplinary action even as she took potshots at party Chief L K Advani and General Secretaries Arun Jaitley and Pramod Mahajan for 'violating party discipline'.

Responding to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's disapproval of her actions at a press conference here, Bharti advised him "not to become the pilot in the cockpit whose flight can be hijacked at gunpoint".

Maintaining that she was not personally against Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who was elected leader of the Madhya Pradesh BJP legislature party amidst protests from her supporters, Bharti dared him to seek the confidence of the party MLAs before being sworn in as Chief Minister.

Claiming that about 100 MLAs had stood up against Chouhan when his name was proposed at the legislative party meeting here yesterday, Bharti told reporters here that Chouhan assuming the top post without the consent of MLAs would be "against democracy, party constitution, country's constitution".

"The issue involved is neither Chouhan nor Uma but four persons through conspiracy and manipulation imposing a Chief Minister against the wishes of lakhs of activists and MLAs of the state", she said.

Asked about the indications of disciplinary action against her, she asked whether the article written against Narendra Modi by Mahajan in BJP Today, the cases being allegedly fought against Gujarat and Rajasthan Governments by Jaitley for 'huge fees' and the resignation offered by Advani in the wake of the Jinnah episode did not constitute indiscipline.

Referring to Vajpayee's criticism of her 'lust for power', Bharti reminded the former Prime Minister that it was he who persuaded her to remain in the NDA Government after she voluntarily resigned from the Cabinet.

"I will challenge them. Bulls can get away with anything and sheeps can be herded around. I will not be herded around", she said and dared both Vajpayee and Advani for a debate on the issue of discipline.

"Demanding that legislators be consulted cannot be construed as lust for power", she said before resuming her 'padyatra' to Ayodhya to express 'regrets' for the party's 'betrayal' of the people.

Bharti claimed that she had asked all the Ministers and MLAs who had walked out of the meeting along with her yesterday to 'go back and apologise'.

She herself walked out of the meeting as she would have had to sign on the resolution endorsing Chouhan as the legislature party leader failing which she would have attracted the provisions of the Anti-Defection law, Bharti said.

Maintaining that her actions did not violate discipline, she said if it was the case she would have gone to the state Governor on October 16 itself and would have become the Chief Minister.

"I will not damage the party. I am the real BJP", she said and asked who 'compromised' in the Ram temple issue and who was the Law Minister (Jaitley) and Home Minister (Advani) who did not take disqualify Congress President Sonia Gandhi's from occupying top posts due to her foreign origin.

Bharti said she believed in the core issues of the party including abrogation of Article 370, Ram temple, Uniform Civil Code and Swadesh.

Claming that then Delhi Chief Minister and senior party leader Sushma Swaraj had blamed party insiders for the defeat of her Government in Delhi, Bharti asked, "wasn't that indiscipline. But I am the daughter of a poor farmer".

Asserting she had no 'formal relations' with the RSS, the former Chief Minister said, "my relations with the Sangh is akin to that of Eklavya and Dronacharya but I will not give my thumb as Eklavya did because I have to finish Duryodhana which Arjun will not be able to do".

Bharti said during her Bhopal-Ayodhya Padyatra, she would walk for an average 10 kms per day.

During her campaign, seminars on 'Suraj' or corruption-free governance would be held in Bhopal, on 'Swabhiman' (self-respect) in Lucknow and 'Swadeshi' in Delhi, Bharti said.