Congress tries to steal Uma Bharti's thunder

<div class="section0"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">A rakhi gift from Dharam paaji to Uma? More like Karnataka chief minister Dharam Singh has thrown up his hands and is now running scared of his own creation. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">On Monday, the Karnataka government did a U-turn in the Uma Bharti case, telling the Karnataka High Court that it stood by a 2002 decision to drop charges against the former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.It had earlier sought reopening of the rioting case in a Hubli court, leading to a series of events and eventually Uma''s dramatic resignation as chief minister. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Ever since, Uma, currently resident in a Dharwad guest house, has turned the tables completely. If the Congress believed it had her in a spot, they''d picked the wrong victim. Uma is shedding no tears over having had to quit her post and is preparing for a larger national role in the BJP.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Her party was all set to begin a satyagraha this week demanding that cases against her be dropped, with all top leaders involved. And it has promised the pitch will only build up more in the days to come. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Congress sources in Bangalore meanwhile said the cornered chief minister was increasingly beleaguered, with his experiment gone very wrong. Uma Bharti is poised for a ''Tiranga yatra'' from Hubli to Jallianwala Bagh the moment she is released, and the government fears trouble. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Now it is engaged in urgent damage control. Agency reports from Bangalore said Advocate General B T Parthasarathy appeared before a bench, headed by the Chief Justice N K Jain, and said: "There is no political vendetta against Bharti". After all the hoopla over Bharti, that is more an explanation than a mere statement of intent. The AG was also quoted as saying that a "sad chapter" was being brought to a "happy end". </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Well, the Congress is scarcely grinning in happiness. "Dharam Singh has played into the BJP''s hands and now is afraid of the consequences. He has single-handedly made Uma Bharti a national hero," an irate Congressman said. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Partymen say Dharam Singh has been used thoroughly, also by fellow Rajput Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who is said to have master-minded the entire episode to dislodge Uma Bharti in his state Madhya Pradesh. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Let sleeping dogs lie was "a good course, wisely adopted by the former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna" after "Deve Gowda had tackled the whole contentious issue diplomatically," the Congressman said. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Krishna''s Cabinet had decided in 2002 to withdraw all charges against Bharti and others.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Bharti, who resigned as Chief Minister last week to appear before the Hubli court, was charged in a rioting case. Five people were killed in police firing when the fiery BJP leader defied prohibitory orders to hoist the national flag at the Idgah maidan on Independence Day in 1994.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="">Remanded to 14 days in judicial custody, Uma has settled down fast to adulation and heroism. She has rarely been seen without the national flag in recent times, as the BJP goes to town criticising the Congress for penalising her for trying to unfurl the Tricolour. The party has now made it an issue of nationalism, in the process attempting to upstage Sonia Gandhi in the "sacrifice" stakes.</span></div> </div>