Some newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs met former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje at her Civil Lines residence on Sunday, amid suspense over whom the party will pick for the chief ministerial post in the state.
Raje is expected to meet party chief Rajnath Singh and L K Advani, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, in New Delhi on August 22, soon after they return from the ongoing chintan baithak (brainstorming session) in Shimla.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh is learnt to have sought an explanation from former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje for delaying her resignation as Opposition leader in the Assembly in defiance of the party's parliamentary board decision.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje finally resigned as the leader of the Opposition in the state assembly on Friday.Raje, who initially refused to resign, has been dodging the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership for over two months on the issue.However, she did not hand over her resignation letter to party president Rajnath Singh. Raje met Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani in Delhi on Friday and handed over her resignation letter.
Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje will not resign as the Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly "for now" and would call a Legislature Party meeting by August 26, her spokesman said a day after the standoff over the issue eased with Bharatiya Janata Party leadership not setting a deadline for her to quit.
Vasundhara Raje may have had her faults but she is an unconventional and brave leader who deserves better, observes Aditi Phadnis.
Sources in the Raje camp said she would be meeting the party high command on Thursday.
Though the MLAs termed it a courtesy meeting, they said they will support Raje if the party leadership chooses her for the post in the state.
Despite a clean sweep for the BJP in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had to put up a fight to get at least one MP from her state into Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Council of Ministers.
Announcing Raje's appointment in the presence of senior party leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, BJP President Rajnath Singh said party leader Gulab Chand Kataria will be the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly. He will take over from Raje who quit the post.
Terming Gehlot's "praises" for her as a big conspiracy, Raje in a statement on Sunday night said he "has made such outrageous and untrue allegations because of the rebellion happening in his own party and diminishing mass base".
Beniwal, a former BJP leader and Raje-baiter for a long time, claimed that there is an "internal understanding" between her and incumbent Chief Minister Gehlot.
Vasundhara went in self-isolation along with her son Bharatiya Janata Party MP Dushyant Singh after Kanika, whom they had met in Lucknow, was found to be positive for COVID-19.
She will be covering six districts of Chittorgarh, Udaipur, Banswara, Rajsamand, Bhilwara and Ajmer during the yatra.
At a public meeting in Jhalawar on Friday, while referring to her MP son Dushyant Singh's progress as a people's representative, Raje candidly said she felt she can retire now.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Saturday retained 46 ministries as she allotted portfolios of Rural Development and Panchayti Raj, Health and Mines among her Cabinet ministers.
Through gestures and decisions, the BJP high command has signalled that Raje may not be the lead actor but rather play a supporting role in a high-stakes election in its stamping ground.
Meena, however, refused to elaborate on the incident, which is seen as an attempt at 'badabandi' -- holing up elected leaders in resorts as a show of strength.
Our relations are very old. If she thinks whatever I had said has hurt her, I express my regret for that. I will also write a letter to her, Yadav said.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who has been facing the opposition's pressure to quit in connection with the 'Lalitgate' may have survived the first salvo, but it remains to be seen how dexterously she manages the show in the coming days, says Prakash Bhandari.
A day after Bhartiya Janata Party's veteran leader Jaswant Singh accused Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje of betraying him as it was he who had support her candidature for the chief minister's post, Raje hits back saying that party members should accept the party's decision.
The party also decided to field Narpat Singh Rajvi from Chittorgarh after its earlier decision to deny the five-term MLA, who is the son-in-law of its stalwart leader Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, renomination from his Vidhyadhar Nagar seat. This triggered a backlash from a section of party workers.
In a new twist to the Lalit Modi and Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj row, newly-emerged documents show that Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje agreed to secretly testify in the former's United Kingdom immigration application in 2011.
The image of aunt and nephew made us go 'awww'.
Raje however, said that "Gehlot's 'praises' is a big conspiracy" against her.
Lalit Modi's interview with television news channel explaining how Vasundhara Raje took his wife to Portugal for cancer treatment shows that he is seeking revenge against the Rajasthan chief minister.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was on Saturday elected unopposed as the leader of Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party in Rajasthan.
Standing firmly behind Vasundhara Raje the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday reiterated that she will stay as the Rajasthan chief minister.
Manvendra Singh will take on the Rajasthan CM from Jhalrapatan constituency.
'Change is the rule of politics.'
This is the first reaction by senior BJP leader Raje who has been the chief minister of the state for two terms.
Apart from Raje, Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Ashwini Vaishnaw are said to be among the frontrunners for the chief minister's post in Rajasthan.
Having failed to make former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje quit as leader of the opposition accepting its diktat, the Bharatiya Janata Party central leadership said on "her resignation can wait". M Venkaiah Naidu, BJP pointsman for talking to Raje on the issue and deal with her demands before she accedes to the party demand, evaded a question on the fate of the Rajasthan leader saying there were other pressing issues occupying the central leadership's attention at
Gehlot, whose government had faced a rebellion led by his former deputy Sachin Pilot in 2020, said he has adopted the policy of "forgive and forget" and has moved on. He asserted that he has not opposed grant of any party tickets to Pilot's supporters.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said on Saturday that the responsibility for the Bharatiya Janata Party's debacle in the general elections has to be fixed from the top.Raje refused to step down as Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan assembly on the directive of the party high command and made it clear that she alone couldn't be blamed for the party's poor performance in the state.The BJP central leadership holds Raje responsible.
Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje on Wednesday met senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani amid reports that the standoff in the party over her resignation from the post of leader of the opposition in Rajasthan assembly may end this week.
The case of former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who is refusing to take the post of national general secretary offered to her as she feels it will lessen her hold on her state, has the BJP top brass mulling over disciplinary action against her and her team.
While the going for Dushyant Singh in Jhalawar is not tough, winning Jalore is a tough battle for Vaibhav Gehlot.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Thursday got another one-week's time to step down as the leader of opposition in the state assembly, as she was dodging the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership for over two months on her resignation.
The wedding ceremony of India's star cricketer and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be solemnized Sunday night, with Sakshi Rawat at a private farmhouse belonging to former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia.
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