By IANS,
New Delhi : Over 50 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators from Rajasthan Friday trooped to the home of senior party leader L.K. Advani to express solidarity with former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who has been asked by party president Rajnath Singh to quit as leader of opposition in the state assembly.
The legislators came to New Delhi Thursday to protest against the leadership’s decision to remove Raje from the post, reportedly holding her responsible for the BJP’s debacle in the Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan in April-May after the defeat in the assembly polls late last year.
From 21 seats in the 2004 elections, the BJP’s tally crashed to four out of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
According to the legislators loyal to Raje, they first called on Rajnath Singh and then went to the residence of Advani who asked them to fix an appointment in advance for the meeting.
This provoked the legislators to raise slogans in support of their leader.
They are believed to have conveyed to the party leadership that a majority of the 78 BJP legislators in the state assembly support Raje. One of the legislators oputside Advani’s house told reporters there were over 50 legislators present there at that moment.
The former Rajasthan chief minister was asked to step down Wednesday night by the BJP president.