Bhopal: Bhartiya Janshakti (BJS) president Uma Bharti on Thursday organised a rally of her supporters before surrendering to police in connection with an case of attempted murder registered against her.
Around 5,000 people, including Uma, her family members and BJS office-bearers, were arrested as a preventive measure for violating prohibitory orders and later released, police said.
Though Uma and her party members claimed they surrendered in the case of attempted murder registered in Chhatarpur district on October 30, police clarified that they "were not in a position" to execute the arrests as no official communication was received about the matter.
A report was being sought from police in Chhatarpur, they said after the rally, attended by thousands of BJS workers carrying party flags and shouting slogans, ended.
Later, Uma led a delegation of her family members and office-bearers to meet the state police chief.
"I will ask him to disclose the complainants who were injured. If the cases registered against me, my family members and partymen do not hold water, will action be taken against officials responsible for it?" she announced before boarding a bus to go to the DGP's office.
"By setting us free, they are not obliging us. This had to be done if the charges were fake," she said, describing the cases registered against her during by-elections for the Bada Malhara Assembly constituency as a "black chapter in politics".
Accusing a couple of senior police officers of Chhatarpur district of acting at the behest of the ruling BJP during the by-elections, Uma claimed their actions had tarnished the image of the state police.
Rather than punishing the officers, they were being given better postings, she alleged. She said she will request DGP A R Pawar to "cleanse" the system and ask his men to uphold morals and ethics while discharging their duties.
Uma, who was accompanied by several BJS leaders, including party general secretaries Prahlad Patel and Sanghpriya Gautam, state president Raghunandan Sharma and her brother Swami Lodhi and nephews Rahul and Siddharth Lodhi, offered prayers at a temple during the rally before climbing atop a jeep to address workers.
Alleging a conspiracy to kill her, the former chief minister accused BJP leaders of using police and the civil administration to register cases against her.
Asking her workers to gear up for the next assembly polls, she said after winning the elections, she will meet her "father figures" — senior BJP leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani.
"I will tell them that the defeat for BJP was due to brokers of power in the party. I followed the path shown by them and emerged victorious," she said.
Before the rally, Bharti also addressed a public meet where she made scathing attack on the state government and accused it of pushing Madhya Pradesh towards anarchy.
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