Uma gets Parivar's saffron snub

New Delhi: It seems the Sanyasin's padayatra is going to be lonelier than she had assumed.

After lending support to her padyatra, the Sangh Parivar has distanced itself from Uma Bharti after she was axed on Wednesday.

Hours after her suspension, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) virtually endorsed BJP's decision.

"This is not an issue for the RSS to react. RSS has always given highest priority to discipline. RSS does not interfere in any issue related to discipline," RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said.

Joining the RSS, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) also sought to distance itself from Uma saying that BJP decision was the party's internal matter.

However, VHP Senior Vice-President Acharya Giriraj Kishore maintains that BJP did not follow the correct procedure in electing Shivraj Singh Chauhan as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

He also clarified that VHP was not against Chauhan, but only the procedure adopted to nominate him.

The Acharya added, Uma was welcome to Ayodhya, "as part of the padyatra".

The RSS had lobbied for the fiery Sanyasin after her suspension from BJP last year for indscipline.

But the outfit has distanced itself from her after she charged RSS Joint General Secretary Suresh Soni with interfering in the party's affairs in Madhya Pradesh.

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Ironically, Uma has always spoken the RSS idiom on temple construction and plans to do that again, for which the RSS should have been applauding the sanyasin's padayatra.

But now she hardly has any friends at the RSS office.

The RSS was upset over the manner in which Bharti had spoken out against some Sangh functionaries.

She had even alienated RSS state functionaries in Madhya Pradesh when she was the chief minister.

However, the VHP still sees her as a woman with the true Sangh spirit.

But this is bad news for Bharti as she will now have to mend several fences and RSS will have to be top priority for her.