Jaipur:
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has resigned as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajasthan Assembly.
Raje submitted her resignation to Rajasthan Speaker Dipendra Singh Shekhawat just before the Budget Session of the Assembly began in Jaipur on Monday.
She said: "I've resigned in accordance with the directives of the party high command and the BJP president. But whether I have any post or not, I will continue to serve the people of Rajasthan."
Senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said: "I had talked to Raje yesterday after BJP President Nitin Gadkari asked me to. She agreed to submit her resignation. She is an important leader whose services will be utilised by the party."
Naidu said a meeting of the BJP Legislature Party would be called in "a day or two" to elect a new Leader of Opposition.
"Raje will be consulted before electing her successor and the views of the BJP Legislature Party will also be taken into consideration in the matter," Naidu said.
This brings to an end a long-drawn-out tussle over Raje's continuance in the post, which began last August and became one of the most visible signs of the in-fighting within the party. Former BJP president, Rajnath Singh had asked Raje to resign, blaming her for the party's debacle in Rajasthan in the Assembly elections of 2008 and the Lok Sabha elections in 2009.
Rajnath repeatedly urged her to quit, but Raje was defiant. Sixty of the BJP's 70 MLAs in Rajasthan supported her and were paraded in Delhi as her show of strength.
In October, after an ugly stand-off, Raje finally sent a resignation letter to Rajnath Singh but refused to send it to the Speaker of the Rajasthan Assembly, which meant that in effect, nothing changed.
She finally stepped down formally on Monday, bowing to the party's wishes, significantly when her bête noir Rajnath is no more the president of the party.
On being asked whether she will get any party position in Delhi, she said, "Let's wait."