Hope Raje will follow party's stand: Rajnath

HARD TALK: BJP President Rajnath Singh during the BJP Parliamentary party board meeting.

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New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has virtually shut the doors on former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje. BJP President Rajnath Singh on Sunday made it clear that Raje will have to quit as the Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan.

Speaking after a meeting of the BJP parliamentary board, Rajnath said the party had suggested to Raje that she quit and he hopes she will agree.

"We had given suggestion to Vasundhara Raje Scindia that she should resign. We hope that she will follow the party stand," said Rajnath.

Earlier on Sunday, Raje had issued a statement, insisting she will not leave the BJP and that she has no plans to float a new party. Raje said she had not spoken against its leaders but didn’t clarify if she would resign as her state’s Leader of the Opposition.

“I've never thought of leaving the BJP. My mother spent her life looking after the party's interests. I've never said anything against the BJP or the party's leaders,” said Raje in a statement. “I will not float a new party.”

Raje refused to follow Rajnath’s instruction to resign as Leader of Opposition. She argued that she alone could not be blamed for the party’s defeat in the General Elections, which left it with four Lok Sabha seats compared to 21 in the 2004 polls.

PTI, while quoting an MLA who supported the former chief minister, said Raje would accept the decision of BJP’s parliamentary board meeting on Sunday. "Whatever the BJP Parliamentary board decides, it will be acceptable to the BJP legislature party", said Alwar legislator Gyan Deo Ahuja.

On Friday, around 57 BJP legislators from Rajasthan went to the residence of senior party leader L K Advani in New Delhi to express solidarity with former Raje.

The legislators first met Rajnath Singh and later went to the residence of Advani, who snubbed them by declining to meet them without a proper appointment.

(With inputs from PTI and IANS)