New Delhi:
In a dramatic development which could further aggravate the crisis in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan, more leaders from the party have threatened to resign along with former chief minister Vasundhara Raje over the rift with Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS)-backed member Gulab Chand Kataria's proposed
yatra.
In addition to the six BJP MLAs who had threatened to quit the party yesterday, nearly 20 more leaders, loyal to Ms Raje, today offered to resign. They said they had handed over their resignation to her.
But Ms Raje herself today played down the controversy, saying "it is the party's internal problem and we will be able to resolve it." Something that the BJP, too, echoed. "There may be some differences of perception but when she has said herself that it is an internal matter of the party, then we should treat it like that," party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
On Saturday evening, in a meeting of the state core committee, Ms Raje threatened to quit the BJP if Mr Kataria goes ahead with his proposed 28-day-long
Lok Jagran Yatra.
"Despite the discussions in the core committee and our request that this yatra should be postponed, he wants to go ahead with the yatra. But I feel any yatra should strengthen the party and its workers and not create differences. Under the circumstances as I can't represent the voice of our workers, I feel I should resign from the party," Ms Raje said.
Mr Kataria, the Home Minister of Rajasthan in the former Raje government, is considered the BJP's strongman in the Mewar region of south Rajasthan, but the Raje faction sees the yatra as a challenge to her supremacy, and is opposing it. They allege the yatra was announced unilaterally - a charge that Mr Kataria denies.
Yesterday, BJP leader Kiran Maheshwari, along with five other party leaders from south Rajasthan, had sent her resignation to the state party president over the yatra. However, minutes after Ms Raje threatened to quit, Mr Kataria, who was earlier adamant about going ahead with his yatra, decided to call it off.
"Vasundhara
ji has threatened to resign as she is angry over my yatra. But I am a loyal worker of the party and its organisation and to keep that intact I've decided to cancel my yatra. I am a soldier of the party and will make whatever sacrifice is needed in the interest of the party," said Mr Kataria.
For years, the BJP's Rajasthan unit has been vertically split between supporters of former chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and the RSS-backed faction that's opposed to Ms Raje's domination in the state. While Ms Raje's resignation threat has, for the moment, put a lid on the Kataria yatra, how the BJP's factional feud plays itself out, in coming days, will be closely watched in Rajasthan.