Uma146;s platform

The railway station here was a picture of chaos on Tuesday as BJP leader Uma Bharati8217;s train chugged in. Party workers jostled to catch...

The railway station here was a picture of chaos on Tuesday as BJP leader Uma Bharati8217;s train chugged in. Party workers jostled to catch a glimpse of the sanyasin, who launched a scathing attack on Sonia Gandhi for reopening a 8216;8216;closed8217;8217; case against her.

Bharati said she would never have faced arrest for unfurling the Tricolour had national politics not been 8216;8216;dictated by the whims of Sonia Gandhi, a foreigner apathetic to Indian sensitivities8217;8217;.

On her way to Hubli, Bharati said her arrest was an indication of trouble for any movement undertaken to save India8217;s pride. 8216;8216;The BJP does not want to politicise the issue. The Congress-Left combine is giving a communal colour to a simple act of hoisting the Tricolour,8217;8217; she added.

Amid her sloganeering supporters, Bharati said Sonia reopened the case to settle political scores even though three successive chief ministers of Karnataka had chosen to forget it. 8216;8216;Veerappa Moily, S.M. Krishna and even Dharam Singh had decided not to pursue it, but an arrest warrant was issued suddenly on Sonia8217;s diktats,8217;8217; she alleged.

At her vitriolic best against Sonia, Bharati asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Karnataka CM Dharam Singh to listen to their conscience instead of blindly obeying the 8216;8216;diktats of a foreigner8217;8217;.

The BJP strategically sent national secretary and minority poster boy Shahnawaz Hussain to accompany Bharati from Pune to Hubli. Hussain lambasted the Centre for following 8216;8216;two rules for two cases8217;8217;.

8216;8216;Taslimuddin is roaming free despite an NBW against him under the Arms Act simply because the RJD is in power,8217;8217; he said.

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And as the Nizamuddin-Vasco Goa Express, by which Bharati was travelling, got delayed by three hours, irked passengers had a one question: 8216;8216;Couldn8217;t she have flown to Hubli?8217;8217; 8216;8216;My schedule has gone awry,8217;8217; said Felix Cardozo, in Pune for a wedding.

After a hard day8217;s work, Seema Ramchandani could have done with a peaceful journey home by the Pimpri local. 8216;8216;A public facility such as this is not the place to hold a gathering,8217;8217; she said.