Rajnath sends Raje’s ministers back to work

After two days of political drama, a calm seems to have returned within the Rajasthan BJP.

After two days of political drama, a calm seems to have returned within the Rajasthan BJP. The four ministers who had reportedly submitted their resignations on Saturday, were back in their respective offices on Monday while Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje was in New Delhi for a meeting of the Planning Commission. Their return to office is believed to be the consequence of the party high command meeting in the national capital on Sunday.

“We are here and are very much at work. We wouldn’t be in our offices had we resigned,” said Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, who is also acting as the spokesperson for the other three ministers — Education Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari, Minister for Medical and Health Bhawani Joshi and Minister for Social Welfare Madan Dilawar. The others have chosen not to comment on the issue.

Kataria, along with Tiwari and Dilawar, had personally met BJP president Rajnath Singh on Sunday to complain against the working of the Chief Minister. Prior to this, the four ministers were said to have sent their resignations to Singh through fax on Saturday.

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Keeping in mind the forthcoming elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand, the party high command seemed in no mood to address these grievances.

Party sources claim that the ministers were asked to refrain from “taking the fight to the media” and were given the assurance that their complaints would be discussed with Raje, who would be asked to sort out problems. The Chief Minister is expected to meet the senior BJP minister in Delhi on Monday.

“They have been asked to forget their differences as it will reflect poorly on the image of the party during elections in the other states. But the rebels have vowed not to sit quietly for long. They are waiting for the elections to get over,” said a senior office bearer.

“Once the elections are over, they will want to bounce back. As of now it is the question of the party’s image and hence they were forced to let go,” said a senior leader.

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However, R S Rathore, spokesperson for the government stated, “The party is not facing any trouble and all that resignations thing was just a rumour,” he stated.

The drama began on Thursday when Dilawar publicly disapproved of Parliamentary Minister R S Rathod holding a press meet on procurement of mustard seeds. This was followed by Raje stripping of the Department of Co-operatives from Dilawar’s portfolio and handing it over to Prabhu Lal Saini, Minister for Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Agriculture Marketing.