Chouhan regime would have collapsed in hours: Uma

Gwalior, June 30 (UNI) Bharatiya Janshakti (BJ) President and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti today claimed that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan regime would have collapsed in a matter of hours had the incensed sanyasin not embarked on her 'Ram-Roti Padyatra' immediately after Mr Chouhan was chosen for the top post by the BJP high command.

''At that juncture, not a single MLA was supporting him and even today the legislators are unwilling to accept him as their leader.

Their protest began when they were not consulted while Mr Chouhan was chosen. His is a hijacked government sans public support,'' the firebrand sadhvi told UNI here.

Maintaining that the public and the BJ would be the final authorities for deciding whether she would be catapulted to the chief minister's post again, Ms Bharti added that no political leader was in a position to determine whether he or she would be restricted to a state or ascend the national stage.

Accusing the BJP of following in Congress footsteps, she said the saffron party was a mere photocopy as BJP leaders adopted the nepotism and corruption prevalent in the Congress.

Responding to a question, Ms Bharti said, ''At an ideological level, I do not consider the communists as my foes. The Congress was and still is my political enemy but the BJP is nowhere in the reckoning. It is in focus now just because the party is in government and will fade into oblivion after the dissolution of the present Assembly.'' Denying any likelihood of returning to BJP fold, the sanyasin said though former premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee considered her his daughter, relationships had no place in an ideological struggle.

''The references to Mr Vajpayee in ex-prime minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh's autobiography belong to the realm of fantasy as Mr Singh is a poet. Certain BJP leaders are spreading reports about my 'return' to that party for destabilising those who joined the BJ,'' she alleged.

Ms Bharti claimed that BJ units had been constituted in 14 states and her party was capable of taking on any outfit in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Delhi and Punjab.

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