The BJP is all set to elect its leader for the Assembly in presence of party’s two Central observers on February 26 in Jaipur. The rival factions in the saffron party geared up to formulate their strategy in view of the MLAs’ meeting.
According to the party sources, two senior leaders — Venkaiah Naidu and T.C. Gehlot — will be here at the meeting while MLAs will elect their leader. The post of Leader of Opposition was lying vacant for almost a year following Vasundhara Raje’s resignation from the post. Former chief minister, Ms Raje had resigned while the high command had asked her to step down after the party’s consecutive defeat in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The Raje camp followers were insisting to elect the leader through voting as per the democratic norms.
According to the party insiders, the majority of MLAs were with Ms Raje because she was instrumental in giving party ticket in the last Assembly elections. Her supporters were arguing that either she or her one of the loyalist should be nominated as the Leader of Opposition.
The Sangh loyalists were not happy with Ms Raje and her supporters. According to the sources, the pro-RSS faction of the party was referring former home minister Gulab Chan Kataria’s name as the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly but Ms Raje’s supporters suggested former minister Nand Lal Meena’s name.
Several other names were also doing the round for the post including senior MLA Rao Rajendar Singh. His name was cited as a compromise candidate as well as Mr Rao’s clean track record also helped him. Since the state BJP chief Arun Chaturvedi comes from the Brahmin community, the deputy leader in the Assembly Ghanshyam Tiwari lost his claim.