Buoyed by the impressive turnouts during her ongoing Ram Roti Yatra, expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti has hinted that she may not be averse to the idea of forming her own political party in the near future.
"I do not want to comment on the issue at this juncture. But it is the people, followers and my admirers who will decide my future course of action. I will merely go by their wishes," she told PTI.
As a precursor to the move, Uma indicated that immediately after the conclusion of the present yatra, she would be visiting Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Orissa, Uttaranchal and Assam to step up her campaign for what she claimed was ensuring 'a dignified life and honest living' for the common man.
"I have been receiving requests from my followers from all these states to step up my campaign for a corruption-free society and also carry out a fight against various local problems," she claimed.
Uma also asserted that if the BJP was to capture power again, it has to fully embrace the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
"Unless the BJP completely surrenders itself to the ideology, guidance and support of the Sangh Parivar, it cannot come back to power or revive its fortune," she remarked.
Replying to a question whether she was amenable to the idea of a compromise with the BJP leadership, the firebrand leader said she has never left the party.
"BJP is an ideology. But it is leaders like Atalji and Advaniji who have ditched the party and its ideology. How can they expel me from the ideology to which I am firmly rooted," she asked.
However, Uma asserted that she held both former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and party leader L K Advani in high esteem, as both were 'towering personalities' in their own right.
But she felt that the two leaders were, at present, under the grip of some 'unseen and hidden forces' and hence have deviated from the party's original ideology.
She recalled that Vajpayee had made the famous statement that 'politics is a commitment and not business' but said, 'today the party has drifted from such a stance and is like any other party'.
The former BJP leader rejected allegations that she had taken up cudgels against the party leadership after being denied the chief ministership.
"In fact, the yatra was planned on March 12 as a party affair. But suddenly Advaniji came and told me to call off the yatra. I enquired what was the problem, but the leadership was not willing to offer any explanation for the same. They just bluntly told me to cancel the yatra," she claimed.
Uma inferred that she was compelled to call off the yatra earlier at the behest of what she called the 'caucus', comprising Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley, Pramod Mahajan and Sushma Swaraj, 'as they were jealous' of her rising popularity in the wake of her previous Tiranga Yatra.
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