New Delhi, March 1 :     BJP firebrand leader Uma Bharti today received independent charge of the departments of youth affairs, sports, women and child development. There was, however, no change in her ministerial status ? she remains a minister of state. It was a Rashtrapati Bhavan communiqu? issued in the afternoon which stated that President K.R. Narayanan, acting on Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee?s advice, accorded Bharti the status of a minister with independent charge of the departments. All these departments fall under the ministry of human resources development for which the ministerial portfolio is held by senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. Vajpayee has long been facing the problem of separating the departments of Bharti and Joshi. Bharti has always shown strong dislike for Joshi and has often been candid about it. Initially, within months of becoming minister, she had lodged complaints with both Vajpayee and home minister L.K. Advani that Joshi was not giving her much leeway and was keeping to himself files that she should be looking after. On occasion, she had even threatened to resign if Vajpayee did not find a different slot for her in the Union ministerial council. Vajpayee and other members of the BJP thinktank have been worried about taking any action on the basis of Bharti?s demand because it was difficult to ride roughshod on a senior leader like Joshi. For the past five months, Bharti had stopped coming to office and had been dealing with affairs of her ministry from her residence. After the comparatively better performance of the Indian Asian Games contingent, Bharti had been trying to convince Vajpayee that she would have given a real fillip to Indian sport if entrusted with complete charge of these departments. Joshi, too, has been accused of not giving adequate time to his ministry. With Bharti enjoying independent charge, Joshi?s assignments will be substantially reduced. He will be left with the departments of education and culture in the ministry apart from the separate portfolio of science and technology.