NEW DELHI: With the Opposition mounting pressure on the BJP to take action against Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje for allegedly helping former IPL czar Lalit Modi, top brass of the party on Friday went into a huddle to tackle the issue.
A day after returning from his visit to the US, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley met both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah separately here to decide on the future course of action as selective leaks continued to emerge.
In the evening, Shah also went to meet the Prime Minister at his residence.
The message that filtered out was that the BJP will continue to brazen it out. The party said that it “fully supports its tallest leader” Raje as no wrongdoing occurred. “Congress is targeting our popular leaders and we stand by her,” said a BJP spokesperson.
Sources said the BJP would not yield to the mounting pressure on Raje, since it would only escalate to engulf other leaders such as Sushma Swaraj, against whom the Congress has been demanding similar action. Moreover, party leaders said action cannot be taken on the basis of the leaked documents whose authenticity has not been established by any court.
Jaitley had on Thursday, immediately after landing in New Delhi, defended Raje by giving her a clean chit. “Well, there is nobody who is tainted please,” Jaitley had told the media.
Meanwhile, sources said a meeting between Raje and top BJP leaders can take place as she is likely to arrive in Delhi to attend the Niti Aayog meeting on Saturday. She had earlier cancelled her scheduled visit to London for an industry event in order to take part in the Niti Ayog meeting. “Raje was expected to reach Delhi on Friday night. A meeting can take place between her and the party brass to deliberate on the issue,” said a source.
Fresh Tender Trouble for Pankaja
Mumbai: Beleaguered Maharashtra Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde faced more trouble on Friday after it emerged that she had instructed an official of her Water Conservation department to clear a tender which was disqualified.