BJP, BJS in confrontation over Uma's helicopter

Bhopal, Oct 27 (UNI) With less than 72 hours to go for polling in Madhya Pradesh's byelections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bharatiya Jan Shakti (BJS) are in an eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation over the issue of an alleged attempt to damage former Chief Minister Uma Bharti's helicopter at Malehra assembly constituency's Jaitpura village today.

While the BJS alleged that BJP workers targeted the chopper, the BJP described the accusation as baseless and added that the firebrand sadhvi's personal security officer (PSO) thrashed the younger brother of Jaitpura's ex-sarpanch. The officer was subsequently pursued by angry villagers.

''The PSO targeted Sitaram Tiwari's brother Suryakant and the villagers tried to nab him. The helicopter lifted off amid the chaos. BJP workers had no role and the aircraft was not targeted,'' said state Health Minister Ajay Vishnoi who also holds charge of Chhatarpur district.

Meanwhile, BJS General Secretary and former Union minister Prahlad Patel issued a statement here saying, ''an attempt was made to target the helicopter. The BJS will launch an agitation if the BJP regime does not take action against those responsible. Former Union minister Bharti enjoys Z-plus security but the incident places questionmarks on that.'' Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency and Malehra are witnessing byelections and polling is scheduled for October 30. The hustings were necessitated by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's resignation from Vidisha and Ms Bharti putting in her papers from Malehra.

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