NEW DELHI, Sept 11 (AFP) Firebrand Hindu nationalist leader Uma Bharti began a nationwide tour Friday to woo voters for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of crucial elections in one of India's biggest states.
Bharti, 43, who dresses in saffron robes, is known for her fiery speeches and is one of the rising stars of the BJP, which ruled India until May when the communist-backed Congress party swept it from power in national polls.
Her 4,000-kilometer (2,480-mile) month-long tour starting from Hubli, in southern Karnataka state, was flagged off by India's opposition leader Lal Krishna Advani.
"The yatra (journey) will focus on three issues - nationalism, probity in public life and the campaign against pseudo-secular forces," said Advani, handing Bharti the Indian flag.
Bharti was released from jail last week after authorities dropped charges against her of inciting a Hindu-Muslim riot a decade ago in the southern state of Karnataka. Five people died when police fired to disperse the mobs.
She resigned as leader of the central state of Madhya Pradesh in August after Karnataka officials decided to press ahead with the charges after years of vacillating.
Bharti accused the Congress party of making political hay out of the 10-year-old case and said voters would give a "stinging reply" in the November polls in western Maharashtra state, home to the country's financial capital Bombay.
A charismatic speaker who helped to propel the BJP to power in the 1990s, Bharti's ability to work crowds is being tapped by the party to reach out to voters in the run-up to the Maharashtra elections.
At the start of her tour, Bharti lashed out at the Congress party and, in particular, Italian-born Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
"As long as people like me are alive, no foreigner can become the prime minister of the country," Bharti said.
(http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2004/09/12/wor02.html)
