Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje continues to ‘test’ the patience of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on the ultimatum served by the party to her to quit the state politics, as she gave a miss to a scheduled meeting with senior party leader M Venkaiah Naidu today to discuss the standoff in the party’s Rajasthan unit, citing ill-health.
Raje, who is in the capital on summons from the BJP’s central leadership, instead sent her son Dushyant Singh, who is a Member of Parliament (MP), from Jhalawar in Rajasthan to meet Naidu to present her case.
Raje is understood to have sent in a word through her son that she was unwell and would not be able to attend the crucial meeting.
Sources said Dushyant Singh conveyed to Naidu his mother’s demands and pre-conditions for resignation.
Raje, who had been asked by the BJP parliamentary board to resign as the leader of Opposition in the wake of the party’s successive defeat in two elections, had first shown a defiant attitude. Of late, she had been making conciliatory gestures to the party’s central command on the issue.
Sources close to Raje said she was trying to buy time as she was reluctant to quit an elected constitutional post. She had also questioned the party’s decision to hold her responsible for the twin electoral defeat while no central leader had been given asked to own responsibility for the defeat in the Lok Sabha elections.
