Cong pitches in, demands Bharti step down

‘‘L.K. Advani campaigned for (JMM leader Shibu) Soren’s removal. By the same yardstick, there is no legitimacy in Bharti’s continuance in office,’’ she added. ‘‘Uma Bharti’s case is far more serious’’ than the one against Soren who had to resign as Cabinet Minister because of an arrest warrant against him.

‘‘BJP’s making Uma Bharti the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh despite such a case pending against her speaks volumes about that party’s hyprocrisy and double-standards,’’ Vyas said.

Earlier in the day, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said: ‘‘Can any Chief Minister against whom not only an arrest warrant has been issued, but who has also been declared a proclaimed offender, continue in office?’’

The Congress also tried to underplay the fact that Bharti’s case coincidentally came close to Soren’s arrest and the BJP’s raising of the ‘‘tainted’’ ministers issue.

Trying not to attach much importance to Bharti’s decision to take out a yatra from Hubli to Jalianwala Bagh, Vyas said, ‘‘Even Advaniji took out a yatra that touched every single corner of the country before the elections, but the people voted for a secular government.’’ Vyas and Singhvi also sought to delink the criminal case against her from the alleged hoisting of the national flag by Bharti in Hubli during the rioting.

Meanwhile, Bharti also said the government would plant 6.35 crore plants in the state under the ongoing ‘panch-J’ (jal, jungle, jameen, jan and janwar) campaign.

Addressing a function after planting a sapling in memory of her mother (Betti Bai) at the Pitra Parvat near airport here, Bharti while praising the efforts of the Indore Mayor in launching the scheme said ‘‘the government will plant 6.35 crore plant saplings in the state under the panch-J campaign.”

Bharti said under Panch-J, resources will be developed in the state through people’s cooperation. She added that the government will take care of roads, power, water, education and health in the state.

With the planting of a tree sapling by the chief minister, one lakh tree saplings were planted by schoolchildren in just an hour in the city, Indore Mayor and PWD Minister, Kailash Vijaywargiya said. Bharti praised the effort made by the Indore Municipal Corporation for today’s plantation drive. — (With inputs from PTI)