Raje tones down rebellion, says BJP's order supreme

In a virtual climb-down after defying the party's directive to step down as leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan assembly, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vasundhara Raje on Friday said the orders of the leadership were 'supreme' for her.

"I am a disciplined soldier of the party and its order is supreme for me. I am committed to serve the party with a post or without it," she said in a statement.

Raje, who was asked to resign in the wake of the party's poor performance in the state assembly and Lok Sabha polls, has been summoned to Delhi by the party's central leadership on August 31 to defuse the crisis.

The former chief minister said she had enjoyed 'very cordial and family ties' with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh since her mother late Vijay Raje Scindia's time. "Any order by the party will be supreme for me," she said.

During her visit to Delhi, Raje will meet senior party leader M Venkaiah Naidu, who has been appointed by the BJP high command to defuse the crisis in its state unit.

The party high command had given her time to put in her papers till August 30, when the short session of the state assembly was scheduled to end. The session was adjourned sine die on Thursday. 

Raje has put forth three demands before accepting the order. She wants her successor to be of her choice, revocation of the suspension order against two of her loyalist Members of Legislative Assembly and a post for herself in Delhi.