E-Paper
Bharti not averse to tie-up with BJP for UP polls
She also said her party would declare its candidates for the polls between September 30 and October 15.
Bharatiya Janshakti president Uma Bharti said on Monday that she was not averse to an alliance with the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, but such a proposal would have to come from the latter.
Without naming BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani, Bharti told reporters that such a tie-up could materialise only if "those who had extolled Mohammed Ali Jinnah as secular apologise".
Speaking after her party's national executive meeting, Bharti said the Bharatiya Janshakti would fight the assembly polls to liberate people from insecurity and corruption, and would welcome an alliance with any political group "which accepts our agenda of Ram and Roti".
She also said her party would declare its candidates for the polls between September 30 and October 15 "irrespective of whether an alliance has been reached with any other party."
Bharti also attacked BJP leader Jaswant Singh for his claims that someone in the Prime Minister's office had been leaking details of India's nuclear programme to the US.
"Remaining mum for so long on such a sensitive issue amounts to treason. Jaswant owes an explanation to the nation what action did he take while he was in the Union Ministry. He cannot make such statements off the cuff to get cheap publicity," she said.
Bharti also criticised National Conference leader Omar Abdullah for his statement that communal riots in Gujarat had led to a recent spurt in terrorist activities in the country.
"This is cowardice. Why did his National Conference pull out of the NDA and hit the streets at that time. If one feels something wrong is being done, one ought to register protest then and there and not in retrospect," she said.
Bharti claimed that various Congress regimes and those led by V P Singh and Chandra Shekhar had given rise to the "cult of minorityism which in fact was the direct cause of growth of terrorism".
The Bharatiya Janshakti chief also condemned UP minister Azam Khan's reported statement favouring the creation of a Muslim state as "a third-rate person's foolish idea which can lead to revival of the communal frenzy that eventually paved the way for Partition".
Bharti said her party was committed to the welfare of women, and claimed that this was reflected in the fact that five out of the nine office bearers in the party were women.
"Our contention is that 33 per cent reservation would not do. Women comprise half the country's population and they must get 50 per cent reservation in all spheres. We would raise this demand with the help of dedicated women, who are ready to fight," she said.
