No one now heads Rajasthan BJP

JAIPUR: After keeping it in the dark for three weeks, Rajasthan BJP president Om Prakash Mathur on Monday confirmed that he had indeed resigned from the post soon after the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha polls.
His resignation has not been accepted as yet, but Mathur said he was firm in his decision not to lead the state unit any more. He took the decision accepting moral responsibility for the BJP's poor performance in the Lok Sabha polls.
With Mathur resigning and Leader of Opposition Vasundhara Raje not attending work since May 16, the state unit now looks orphaned."The state BJP is running without a leader,'' party's national treasurer Ramdas Agarwal said.
Talking to TOI over the phone from Delhi, Mathur said, "I resigned right after the results and am waiting for the party high command to accept it. I had done the same thing after the assembly elections in December but then the party high command did not accept it.''
Without taking names, Mathur indicated that other senior leaders should also follow suit and resign. "I accept moral responsibility. If other leaders also feel the same, they should also quit,'' he said. The state president's targets are said to be organisational secretary Prakash Chandra and Raje.
Interestingly, the LS poll verdict had reportedly brought Mathur and Raje closer with the duo gunning for Prakash Chandra. Immediately after the results were out, both blamed the interference of Chandra, a Sangh representative, for the fiasco. However, the new-found unity dissolved just as quickly with Raje also blaming Mathur. According to sources, the two are now not even on talking terms.
Before the elections, the three senior leaders who shared the responsibility of leading the party, reportedly did not see eye to eye on anything, be it selection of candidates or policy decisions. The party suffered quite a lot because of the three groups, each with a set of ideas of its own.
Mathur, who took over as the state president in January 2008, has reportedly written a lengthy resignation letter to the party high command. Dated May 20, 2009, the letter had claimed that internal differences, a large number of rebels and wrong selection of candidates were the main reasons for the poor performance. Mathur, however, on several occasions had denied that he had resigned, saying, "I don't need to be told. I know what to do.''
According to sources, Mathur has also filed a complaint with the party high command about other senior leaders and claimed that his directives or suggestions were never followed. "Mathur had been upset about the way Raje handled things for a long time now but could do little as the party high command continued to show confidence in Raje,'' a senior BJP leader said.
Mathur had been brought to the picture after an impressive stint in Gujarat during which the party did well in the December 2007 assembly elections. He had initially planned to work according to the Gujarat model to deal with the rebels. "However, he was soon over-shadowed by Raje, who did not allow Mathur to act according to his will,'' another BJP leader said.