She told newspersons here that Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal and RSS leader Raju Bhayya had endorsed the national agenda that the BJP had finalised when it was installed at the Centre.

Uma Bharti said that the BJP had a dedicated band of party workers who had actively participated in the Ayodhya temple campaign and were now willing to assist the forces in Kargil.

She said that during her visit to Amritsar, she had met a large number of party workers who had offered to go to the Kargil sector to assist the forces in their operation against the infiltrators from Pakistan. They had volunteered to render all possible help to make a success of the national reconstruction core programme announced by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Bharti said the BJP had benefitted from the recent political developments leading to the fall of the Vajpayee government as the Congress party stood exposed. People sympathised with the BJP. Public sentiment was with the party and she hoped it would get translated into votes in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier, addresing party workers, Uma Bharti lashed out against Congress president Sonia Gandhi and said the issue of her nationality had become a matter of public debate even though the BJP had no plans to make this an election issue.

She said Sonia Gandhi decided to bring about the fall of the Vajpayee government when it was going strong. This was evidently designed to weaken the country. But she expressed optimism that Atal Behari Vajpayee would again become Prime Minister and the government would last a full five years after the elections.

Earlier, leaders of the Patiala District Bharatiya Janata Party honoured Bharti on her visit to the city. Pitambar Dutt, president of the BJP district unit, presented a sword and siropa to her. Prominent Akali Dal workers of the city were also present.