Fiery Bharatiya Janata Party leader Uma Bharti arrived in Bhopal on Monday, amidst protests by her supporters over the rejection by party leaders of their demand for her return as Madhya Pradesh chief minister.

Bharti, who arrived here ahead of the BJP Legislature Party meeting, was welcomed by her supporters, who raised slogans in her favour, claiming that she was the leader of all party workers in the state. The meeting has been convened later on Monday to formally elect state party president Shivraj Singh Chouhan as its leader.

"Umaji is certainly the leader of BJP workers in the state. She has the support of all the 172 party legislators," BJP MLA Harishankar Khatik told reporters outside her residence.

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To a query if her name will be proposed for the post of chief minister at the legislature party meet, he said, "This is an internal party matter. What happens in the meeting still remains to be seen."

A large number of workers, including around six MLAs and former Union minister Prahlad Patel, had gathered at Bharti's residence from Monday morning, planning their future strategy.

While the workers had been terming the selection of Chouhan as 'undemocratic', the leaders refused to make any statement about it.

Bharti loyalists, who had been demanding her return at the helm of affairs in the state, suffered a setback when BJP parliamentary board named Chouhan as the next chief minister, replacing Babulal Gaur.