15 Aug : A defiant Vasundhara Raje virtually ruled out resignation as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly and turned the tables on the party leadership saying the responsibility for the poll debacle has to be “fixed from the top”.
Raje, who has refused to step down as Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan assembly on the directive of the BJP high command, made it clear that she alone cannot be blamed for BJP’s poor performance.
“As far as the poll debacle of party is concerned, it was not only in Rajasthan but the setback was suffered all over the country, and the responsibility should be fixed from top to bottom in the leadership ladder,” Raje told reporters at Jaipur on Saturday.
The BJP central leadership holds Raje responsible for the party’s loss in assembly elections last year and Lok Sabha polls this year.The number of BJP MPs from Rajasthan dropped to four from 23 while in the assembly, the party’s strength plummeted to 78 from 120.
Raje’s supporters claim to have 62 of the 78 BJP MLAs on their side. In the 200-member assembly, Congress has a strength of 97 MLAs.A day after over 50 MLAs supporting her were snubbed by L K Advani who refused to meet them in Delhi, Raje showed no signs of relenting.
“I have not received any communication so far, so there should not be any unnecessary talk about it,” she said on being asked about the high command’s decision.
Raje said she has full support of the party MLAs, who will decide on who should be the Leader of the Opposition.However, state party leader Ram Das Agarwal, once known as a Raje loyalist, said “she should tender her resignation as the high command has asked for it”.
Criticising the decision of the MLAs to go to Delhi, Aggarwal said, “It was not a well thought out move and they will realise it later”.
Raje did not attend the flag hoisting function at the BJP office in Jaipur which was attended by Aggarwal, who is the national treasurer of the party, and other party leaders like Hari Shankar Bhabhra and Mahavir Jain.
Asked about the high command’s decision, state BJP President Arun Chaturvedi said, “Central leadership has asked Vasundhra Raje to tender her resignation as leader of opposition. This is a normal process of change of leadership”.
“Change of responsibilities is a normal process and there is no bad intention as such against anyone as aired by the media,” he said.
Asked if any action would be initiated against MLAs and other party leaders who went to Delhi in support of Raje, Chaturvedi said, “I cannot say anything at this moment.”