Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti arrived in Hubli on Wednesday morning by train to a rousing reception to surrender before a court in connection with a criminal case filed against her 10 years ago.
Hundreds of party workers cheered her as she alighted from the Hazrat Nizamuddin-Goa Express at the railway station in Hubli at the end of her journey which she began hours after submitting her resignation as chief minister.
The train arrived around 9:00 am, three and a half hours behind schedule, as she was given a reception enroute Hubli at various railway stations where she addressed BJP workers and Bajrang Dal activists.
At Hubli, it took some time for Bharti to alight as boisterous BJP and Bajrang Dal workers, several of them carrying the national flag, swarmed the railway platform and raised slogans in her support.
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The fiery BJP leader held a national tricolour aloft and waved at her supporters who surged towards the train, as hoards of reporters and lensmen jostled with one another for vantage position, making it difficult for the police to control them.
Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Subash Bharani told reporters that she would not be arrested.
Bharti would be given tight security as she came under the "Z" plus category of security, police sources said.
Former Union ministers Shanawaz Hussain and Basavaraj Patil Yatnal, BJP Karnataka unit president Ananth Kumar and opposition leader in the Assembly B S Yediyurappa welcomed her.
BJP sources said Bharti would proceed to a guest house and surrender before the court later.
The court had issued a fresh non-bailable warrant against Bharti on August three on the criminal case filed against her
and 21 others during the BJP-led stir for hoisting the national flag at the disputed Idgah Maidan in 1994.
Six persons had lost their lives in the police firing then.
The sensitive Hubli city has come under thick security blanket with prohibitory orders already in force since Sunday. Special security arrangement had been made for the Idgah Maidan.
Around 4,000 policemen, aided by Rapid Action Force, have been deployed in the city, where the district administration has declared holiday for primary and secondary schools.
The district and sessions court had on Monday last rejected her plea to drop the case against her.
The Karnataka government had dropped all the charges against Bharti and others in July 2002 but in a U-turn decided to reopen the case against her this month.
The court had issused 18 non-bailable warrants against Bharti but they were never executed.
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