MP bypolls: Uma's challenge to Vajpayee

Bhopal, Oct 26 (UNI) Bharatiya Jana Shakti (BJS) Founder-President and former chief minister Uma Bharti has challenged BJP's apex leadership to plunge into Madhya Pradesh's bypoll campaign fray.

The challenge was issued in a letter to the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in the context of byelections to Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency and Malehra assembly constituency.

Electioneering will halt on October 28 evening as the polling is scheduled for October 30.

''Let the BJP's top leadership enter the campaign arena. I will campaign alone. Subsequently, let the person who is supported by public opinion be considered the victor,'' the firebrand sadhvi wrote.

BJP President Rajnath Singh will campaign in Vidisha on October 28. According to reports, Mr Vajpayee will focus more on civic bodies' polls in his parliamentary constituency Lucknow.

''You expelled me from the party and I chose my own path. Several parties are active on the Indian scene. I expect the BJP to treat the BJS as a proper political party,'' Ms Bharti wrote.

Alleging that the BJP's campaigners and the state government crossed the limits of democracy, she added that personal vendetta made them employ indecent language and propaganda.

''I am a woman who toiled with integrity for the poorer sections.

In this byelection, every moral code has been violated. Wealth, fear and craftiness are the BJP's weapons,'' the former chief minister said.

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