BJP MLA supports Uma

Narsinghpur (MP), May 26 (UNI) Prominent BJP MLA Jalam Singh Patel says expelled BJP leader Uma Bharti will continue to be his leader.

''Although I am a BJP legislator, my moral support will be with Uma Bharti and her new party Bhartiya Janshakti,'' Mr Patel told reporters here yesterday.

''People have elected me for five years and I will tender my resignation on their demand only,'' he said.

Younger brother of Uma loyalist former Union Minister Prahlad Patel, the Mr Jalam Singh Patel said the state's BJP government was trying to rein him in through the police and by framing him in cases.

In a case of assaulting an engineer of State Electricity Board at Narsinghpur on Monday, Mr Patel and his two associates were arrested yesterday and later released on bail.

UNI XC-SP LR HT1450