Raje threatens to quit over yatra rift in Rajasthan BJP

A stormy core-committee meeting at the party headquarters here on Saturday night ended after Kataria decided to call off his yatra in the interest of the party.

Rifts within the Rajasthan BJP state unit came to the fore again after Leader of the Opposition Vasundhara Raje threatened to resign over former home minister Gulab Chand Katarias planned yatra in South Rajasthan. A stormy core-committee meeting at the party headquarters here on Saturday night ended after Kataria decided to call off his yatra in the interest of the party.

The feud between two groups Rajes supporters and RSS-backed leaders began after Kataria announced a 28-day Lok Jagran Yatra in tribal-dominated South Rajasthan from May 2. Rajes supporters saw the move as one-upmanship and Rajsamandh MLA Kiran Maheshwari petitioned the party high command to cancel the yatra,since the state and national leadership were not consulted nor involved in the yatra. However,senior BJP office-bearers stated that the high command insisted the party sort the issue out in a core committee meeting and only suspended the planned yatra till Saturday.

Following heated discussions over the yatra at the party headquarters on Saturday and no sign of Kataria backing down,Raje stated that she was willing to resign. The most important people in this party are the workers and they did not want the yatra. If I am not able to put forward the party workers view even,then I think I should resign, Raje stated after exiting the party office.

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However,minutes later,Kataria stated that he had called off the yatra in the interest of the party. If this planned yatra serves to divide the state party then it is not worth it,so I have called it off. But this was not organised on my own since I had invited the BJP national president Nitin Gadkari and the LOP to flag it off, Kataria said. He added that it seemed Raje was angry with this tour for reasons I do not know.

An MLA from Udaipur in South Rajasthan,Katarias planned tour across 26 constituencies many tribal dominated to highlight the failures of the Ashok Gehlot-lead Congress government in the state.

Meanwhile,senior BJP leaders maintained that Rajes supporters saw Katarias move as a tactic to position himself as an alternative to Raje,who between 2003 and 2008 served as the Chief Minister. Elections in Rajasthan are slated to be held in 2013.

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