By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday summoned to Delhi a defiant former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje after she refused to step down as leader of opposition in the state assembly, while over 50 legislators trooped into the capital in a virtual show of her strength.
According to party sources, Raje was summoned to Delhi by party’s top leadership which was determined that she stepped down from her post after the BJP’s poor show in the April-May elections in the state.
Raje, on the other hand, stuck to her guns arguing that she alone could not be held accountable for the poll debacle that took the BJP down to an apologetic four Lok Sabha seats from the 21 it won in the 2004 polls out of total 25 in the state.
The former chief minister was asked to step down Wednesday night by BJP president Raj Nath Singh.
The BJP, however, was yet to spell out its views on the Rajasthan poll debacle nor had it even said that Raje had been asked to go. Despite repeated attempts, no BJP leader concerned with Rajasthan developments was willing to speak on record. The only official version from party spokesperson Ravi Shanker Prasad, when IANS contacted him, was: “No comments.”
Earlier Friday morning, some 57 BJP legislators from Rajasthan trooped to the house of senior party leader L.K. Advani to express solidarity with Raje.
The legislators drove in here to protest the leadership’s decision to remove Raje from the post. They first met Rajnath Singh and later went to the residence of Advani, who snubbed them by declining to meet them without a proper appointment.
This provoked the legislators to raise slogans in support of Raje. One of the legislators later said, on condition of anonymity, that Advani subsequently refused an appointment to them.
Rajendra Kumar Rathore, BJP MLA from Taranagar constituency, who was also part of the delegation, said: “All MLAs want that Vasundhra Raje should continue as leader of opposition. And we have come here to request the party for this.”
They are believed to have conveyed to the party leadership that a majority of the 78 BJP legislators in the state support Raje.