Jaipur: In what appears to be a "show of strength", about 25 BJP MLAs on Monday met former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje who is said to be among the frontrunners for the CM's post. The development comes amid intense speculations over the contenders for the top post after the BJP returned to power in the state, winning 115 seats in the assembly polls held last week. The party did not name its CM candidate in the elections.
Though the MLAs termed it a courtesy meeting, they said they will support Ms Raje if the party leadership chooses her for the post in the state.
Nasirabad MLA Ramswaroop Lamba said that people have seen the works of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Raje and that the decision regarding the CM will be taken by the party's parliamentary board. "BJP has returned to power in Rajasthan only because of the work done by PM Modi and Vasundhara Raje,” he said.
When asked whether the party MLAs will support Ms Raje for the CM's post, Lamba said the legislators are with her. Over two dozen BJP MLAs from various districts reached Ms Raje's Civil Lines residence till evening.
Apart from Ms Raje who won assembly elections from Jhalrapatan seat, Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Arjun Meghwal, and party MPs -- Baba Balaknath and Diya Kumari who also won assembly polls -- are among the contenders for the CM's post.
According to sources, BJP state in-charge Arun Singh and state unit president CP Joshi are in Delhi for a meeting with the party high command. They met party president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the sources said.
Shekhawat and Balaknath are also in Delhi to attend the Parliament session.
In Jaipur, the MLAs who visited Raje's residence included Kalicharan Saraf, Babu Singh Rathore, Prem Chand Bairwa, Govind Ranipuria, Kalulal Meena, KK Vishnoi, Pratap Singh Singhvi, Gopichand Meena, Bahadur Singh Koli, Shankar Singh Rawat, Manju Baghmar, Vijay Singh Chaudhary, Pushpendra Singh and Shatrughan Gautam.
Ms Raje, who is the national vice president of BJP, has been the chief minister of Rajasthan twice from 2003 to 2008 and 2013 to 2018.
While she was the CM face in earlier elections, the party decided to go to polls without projecting any leader for the post with PM Modi leading the campaign.
After BJP's defeat in 2018 and the changed dynamics within the party, Ms Raje was seen as a sidelined leader. Now that the BJP has returned to power in the state, her supporters are expecting the party to give her the chance to be the CM for a third time.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)