Defiant Raje puts BJP on back foot

September 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is still hopeful that its defiant Rajasthan leader Vasundhara Raje, who continues to be unwell for over a month, will resign as leader of opposition in the state as soon as she recovers. The former Rajasthan chief minister conveyed to the party leadership over a month ago that she was unwell and could not submit her resignation.

September 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader M.Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said the party's top leadership has full faith in the former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. BJP has asked Raje to step down from the post of Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly in the wake of the party's recent poll debacle.

September 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who met at the residence of party president Rajnath Singh here on Tuesday, discussed the forthcoming assembly elections in three states. M. Venkaiah Naidu told reporters after the meeting that in the wake of the State Assembly elections being held in Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh on October 13, it was deemed necessary for the BJP to discuss preparations for it.

September 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Hoping to resolve the prickly problem of its defiant Rajasthan leader, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is waiting for Vasundhara Raje to recover from her illness and resign as leader of opposition in the state. A day after the former Rajasthan chief minister conveyed to the party leadership that she was unwell and could not submit her resignation, party leader M.

August 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje arrived in the capital Monday to meet Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and discuss the issue of her resignation from the post of leader of opposition in the state assembly. "She has come to discuss the matter and other political issues of the state with the party leaders in Delhi," BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told IANS.

August 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje failed to meet senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Venkaiah Naidu citing health grounds and sent her son Dushyant in her place as representative. Raje had arrived on Sunday to meet senior BJP leaders in the wake of growing demand for her resignation from the post of leader of opposition in Rajasthan State assembly.

August 31st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje will meet Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu here today. Earlier, the BJP central leadership had said that they have asked Raje to report to them in New Delhi on August 30.

August 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje arrived in New Delhi on Sunday evening to meet senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders. Raje is to meet M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday.

August 23rd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reportedly allowed former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to stay on as Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly till the end of the upcoming Assembly session. A short duration Rajastahan Assembly session is scheduled for the first week of September.

August 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Saturday evening called on senior leaders Lal Krishna Advani and Rajnath Singh here at their residence to discuss the leadership issue in the State. Just before leaving for her meeting with Advani from her Delhi-based house Scindia Villa, Raje said that she was in the national capital as per schedule to meet party leaders after the three-day Chintan Baithak (brainstorming session) of the BJP.

August 18th, 2009 JAIPUR - The Rajasthan unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday suspended two party legislators on disciplinary grounds for supporting former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who last week defied the party leadership's directive to quit as leader of opposition in the state assembly. "Two MLAs, Rajender Singh Rathore and Gyan Dev Ahuja, have been suspended from the primary membership of the party on disciplinary grounds, Rajasthan BJP chief Arun Chaturvedi told IANS.

August 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Following days of speculations over the issue of Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vasundhara Raje's continuance as the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajasthan State Assembly, the BJP on Sunday decided that she should step down from the post in due time. Addressing a news conference in the national capital, Rajnath Singh said that Vasundhara Raje had been asked to submit her resignation, however, no time frame had been fixed for her to submit her papers.

August 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh Sunday said he was confident Vasundhara Raje would quit as leader of opposition in the Rajasthan assembly while she softened her stance and agreed to abide by the party leadership's decision. Rajnath Singh had asked her Wednesday night to resign from the post after the party's debacle in the April-May Lok Sabha elections and the state assembly polls late last year.

August 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday summoned to Delhi a defiant former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje after she refused to step down as leader of opposition in the state assembly, while over 50 legislators trooped into the capital in a virtual show of her strength. According to party sources, Raje was summoned to Delhi by party's top leadership which was determined that she stepped down from her post after the BJP's poor show in the April-May elections in the state.

August 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Over fifty legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Rajasthan met party president Rajnath Singh on Friday to shore up support for former chief minister Vasundhra Raje. Raje supporters thronged the national capital in a bid to pressure the party's central leadership to put of a decision to remove her from the post of Leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly On Wednesday, the BJP high command directed Raje to quit as Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, holding her responsible for the party 's debacle in the elections.