Eye on polls, BJP keeping Raje in good humour

Vasundhara Raje returned as the leader of opposition in Rajasthan assembly after a one-year gap in February 2011, when central BJP leaders concluded that she was the "right hand" to prepare the party for the 2013 assembly polls.

Vasundhara Raje returned as the leader of opposition in Rajasthan assembly after a one-year gap in February 2011, when central BJP leaders concluded that she was the "right hand" to prepare the party for the 2013 assembly polls.

HT Image

Raje began her second innings on the promise that she would work with the "support of all". Recent events in Jaipur since Saturday have, however, exposed the infighting in the state BJP unit.

Though central leaders concede that Raje is the best choice to lead the BJP in 2013, they say the "ripe time" for her projection would be just before the elections happen - taking party infighting into consideration.

In 2010, Raje had quit as leader of opposition to join Gadkari's team as BJP general secretary. She had been dodging former chief Rajnath Singh's fiat to quit for six months, claiming that she had the backing of a majority of the BJP MLAs.

When Raje was sent back in February 2011, her rivals - Ghanshyam Tiwari and Gulabchand Kataria - absented themselves from the BJP MLAs' meeting in which Venkaiah Naidu announced her re-election as BJP leader. While Tiwari was upset because he had handled all the proceedings in the House since Raje was removed, Kataria - a key RSS man - had his grouses, considering that he was also a strong contender for the post.

This time, even as the feud came to the fore again, Kataria called off his 28-day 'Lok Jagran Yatra' in Mewar belt after Raje threatened to quit the party in protest and 43 MLAs offered to resign.