Uma says she had fever, couldn't board plane sent by Chouhan

Union water resources minister Uma Bharti has expressed her inability in attending ideological conclave (Vaicharik Mahakumbh) beginning on Thursday near Ujjain.

Union water resources minister Uma Bharti has expressed her inability in attending ideological conclave (Vaicharik Mahakumbh) beginning on Thursday near Ujjain.

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In a letter to chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan written on Thursday morning she says she couldn’t get down (from the plane) in Kanpur on Wednesday evening on her way from Dhanbad to Delhi due to high temperature, where she was to board the plane sent by Chouhan for Ujjain.

In a bid to explain her position she has said, “You may have been aware that I had to stay for 2 days at Deoghar after a programme at Sahibganj in Jharkhand as I was running a high temperature and felt giddy.”

Though Uma Bharti is quick to make clear her position on her inability in attending the 3-day Vaicharik Mahakumbh, her absence is bound to trigger off speculations in the ruling party circles given the fact Chouhan and Bharti have had a bitter political war for many years in the past. Uma Bharti was not invited to attend party programmes for a long time even after her rejoining the BJP.

Uma Bharti was the chief minister at the time of Simhastha in the year 2004 after which she had to quit her post when a Hubali (Karnataka) court issued an arrest warrant against her in connection with a Tricolour dishonour case. Her choice for the post Babulal Gaur replaced her but she indulged in a rebellion and was expelled from the BJP when the party’s national leadership decided to replace Gaur with Shivraj Singh Chouhan in November 2005.

Prime minister Narendra Modi is to take part in Vaicharik Mahakumbh on its concluding day on Saturday.