Suspension sword over her head, Uma hits Ayodhya road

Backed by Atal Behari Vajpayee, who described the behaviour of Uma Bharati and her supporters in Bhopal yesterday as the ‘‘height ...

Backed by Atal Behari Vajpayee, who described the behaviour of Uma Bharati and her supporters in Bhopal yesterday as the ‘‘height of indiscipline,’’ the BJP cracked the whip today.

The party issued a show-cause notice to Bharati while suspending six others, including former Union minister Prahlad Patel, who had publicly protested against the nomination of Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the new Madhya Pradesh chief minister.

Announcing this in Bhopal today, BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan said a final decision will be taken by the BJP parliamentary board at its meeting tomorrow.

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Despite the suspension sword dangling over her head, a defiant Uma Bharati set out on her Bhopal-to-Ayodhya padyatra. But Vajpayee’s comments on the sidelines of the BJP parliamentary party meeting today underlined she had few backers in the central leadership anymore.

Slamming Bharati’s behaviour and ‘‘lust for power’’, Vajpayee said ‘‘indiscipline will not be tolerated howsoever big the person is and whatever the issue may be. Internal competition within parties is a sign of healthy politics but when that competition transforms into lust for power and crosses all limits, it creates difficulties in future.’’

In Bhopal, Mahajan took digs at Bharati. ‘‘What can we do if she declares herself as Bharat Mata tomorrow,’’ he said, referring to the ‘‘I am the real BJP’’ statement by Bharati. Told that she was ready to cut short her yatra and go to Delhi if called by Advani and Vajpayee, he said, ‘‘Itna kasht unhe nahi denge (we will spare her the trouble).’’