After sending conciliatory signals over the last few days, former Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje cited ill-health on Monday and missed a scheduled meeting with senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader M. Venkaiah Naidu to discuss the standoff in the party’s Rajasthan unit.
Ms. Raje was to discuss her demands at the meeting before acceding to the party President Rajnath Singh’s order to resign as leader of Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly. Instead, she sent her son Dushyant Singh as her emissary to meet Mr. Naidu.
Mr. Singh, BJP MP from Jhalawar, spent over an hour with Mr. Naidu and is said to have put forth Ms. Raje’s demands.
Sources close to Ms. Raje said she is likely to stay in Delhi for a couple of days and may meet Mr. Naidu once some progress is made to end the stalemate.
BJP sources said Ms. Raje wants the next Opposition leader in the State Assembly to be from her camp. She has also demanded the General Secretary’s post in the central leadership as well as the revocation of the suspension of two of her loyal MLAs.
The party had asked her to resign from the post following the defeat in the Lok Sabha and Assembly Elections in the state.
