Uma's walkathon nothing new

New Delhi: Uma Bharti's walk out from the Madhya Pradesh Legislature party meeting is nothing new for the BJP.

Bharti was suspended from the party on November 10 last year, after she walked out of BJP Central Office Bearers meeting protesting non-inclusion of 'off-the-record briefings' by party leaders on its agenda.

She had also dared the president of the BJP, L K Advani, to take action against her.

Her suspension was subsequently revoked after she apologised to Advani for causing "any personal hurt".

"Enough is enough. Last time, we committed a mistake by taking her back. She has been a constant embarassment for the party ever since. The whole party's image as a disciplined organisation is being tarnished by her activities", said a senior BJP leader.

Unrelenting in her offensive, Bharti on Tuesday even went on to advise Vajpayee "not to become pilot in the cockpit of any aircraft which can be hijacked at gun point."

Refuting his suggestion that she was power hungry, she reminded him that she had quit his Ministry and rejoined it only after he consistently persuaded her to do so.

Earlier in the day, Vajpayee had stated in Delhi, "whatever happened (at the legislature party meeting) was the height of indiscipline.

Internal competition is a sign of healthy politics but when it transforms into lust for power and crosses all limits, it creates difficulties in future.

"All matters are under the consideration of the party. What happened was sad. Indiscipline will not be tolerated howsoever big the person is and whatever the issue be," he said.

Maintaining she had nothing personal against Chouhan, Bharti said the issue was of "four hijackers" imposing a Chief Minister without taking into account the wishes of the MLAs, party workers and people of the state.

She cited Advani offering to step down in the wake of the Jinnah controversy, Mahajan's critical article on Gujarat riots in BJP Today, Arun Jaitley fighting cases against Gujarat and Rajasthan Governments for "big fees" and Sushma Swaraj's charges against party leaders after her Government's defeat in Delhi as acts of "indiscipline".