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Uma Bharti puts in her papers

Neeraj Mishra in Bhopal

Uma Bharti today faxed her resignation as a Union minister of state to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's office from Bhopal, giving a new twist to the tussle between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress over the election of speaker of the Bhopal Municipal Corporation.

The BJP has already lost the election for the mayor's post, despite holding 33 of the 66 seats in the House. Sunil Sood of the Congress was elected with the help of nine independents and two Bahujan Samaj Party members, allegedly with the connivance of the district administration.

Uma Bharti read out some lines from her letter to rediff.com: "As a member of your Cabinet, I have certain obligations and have to maintain a certain decorum, which restrains me from carrying out my duty as MP from Bhopal. Please allow me to launch an agitation to topple the unjust administration of [Chief Minister] Digvijay Singh."

With this, she also announced her intention of taking to the streets against what she termed "Digvijay's autocratic rule".

In a bizarre incident on Thursday, 14 BJP corporators sustained severe injuries after the collector ordered a baton charge inside the corporation hall, apparently to restrain them.

The BJP had called for a bandh (general strike) in protest today. The strike was successful and peaceful, barring a few incidents of mob violence.

Late afternoon, Bharti called a press conference and announced her resignation, demanding a complete change in the district administration, a re-election for the post of speaker, and criminal cases against Collector A K Vashishtha, Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Singh, former Congress MP Suresh Pachauri, state Cabinet minister Arif Aqueel, and several corporators.

"It is not an isolated incident. Digvijay Singh has been using the police methodically to silence his critics, both within and outside the party," she told rediff.com. "First it was the daylight murder of Preeti Shrivastava in Ambikapur, then Harsud BJP MLA Vijay Shah was mercilessly beaten up by the police. After that, another MLA from Jabalpur, Rajender Singh, was beaten up by the police. Lastly, the murder of Likhiram Kawre, a member of his own Cabinet, is shrouded in mystery. I want this to be the last incident of its kind."

BJP leaders cannot, however, escape their share of blame for Thursday's incidents. None of the senior BJP politicians were present during the voting, assuming that their candidate, Surendra Singh, would sail through with a one-vote majority. In contrast, Congress politicians had come well prepared with Pachauri, Aqueel and local MLA P C Sharma taking up positions inside the hall.

When the voting began, everything went well. But as soon as the BJP leaders realised that a rebel corporator, Guddu Saksena, had decided to go with the Congress, all hell broke loose. The BJP corporators started hurling flowerpots and paper missiles at the presiding officer, Vashishtha, who had to order a mild baton-charge.

The police, as if on cue, went for the BJP corporators with gusto, not sparing the women either. At the end of it, 14 corporators were grievously injured and had to be hospitalised. "We have videotapes to prove that some of the Congress corporators joined the lathi-charge," alleges state BJP president Vikram Verma.

He also alleged that the election was null and void as the Congress did not have the necessary support. Since then, however, Sood has paraded his 34 supporters in front of the press.

SP Sanjeev Singh has already registered cases against all the accused, including the collector and himself.

Chief Minister Digvijay Singh first said the BJP should approach the courts, but has now agreed to order an enquiry into the incident, to be headed by a senior civil servant.

Uma Bharti has, however, refused the offer, saying that the entire district administration should first be suspended for a free and fair inquiry.

Our Correspondent adds:Sources in the BJP in the capital, however, said the prime minister has rejected Uma Bharti's resignation.

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