Jaipur, August 16: The impending storm over the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) isn’t blowing over with former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje turning rebel.
Raje has already defied BJP President Rajnath Singh and refused to resign as Rajasthan’s Leader of Opposition.
Just a day after her show of strength wasn’t taken well by the BJP top brass, Raje on Saturday skipped the Independence Day function at the state party headquarters in Jaipur.
“I am surviving only on your support,” she told her supporters.
The defiant Raje is counting on her thinning support to take on the party bosses.
While Raje told CNN-IBN she was not invited for the celebrations, the state BJP President confirmed that the party had indeed sought her resignation.
“She has been asked to resign and I have been officially informed that the Leader of Opposition has been asked to step down from her position,” said Rajasthan BJP President Arun Chaturvedi.
Even though it’s been a week since Raje was asked to put in her papers, she has maintained that she was never asked to resign as the Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan.
As political isolation around Raje grows, her supporters, too, are feeling that she should resign with dignity…
“She has no choice but to go. She’s a responsible member of the party, former chief minister and has held various other positions. I am sure she knows that she has to conduct herself responsibly and put in her papers,” said BJP National Treasurer Ramdas Agarwal.
However, Raje feels the problem of BJP’s failure in the recent elections needs to be fixed from the top rather than dismiss leaders at state level.
–Agencies