Jaipur: The Rajasthan BJP on Saturday selected senior MLA Rajendra Rathore as the Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly. The saffron party was also picked for State NJP chief Satish Poonia as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The selection of Rathore as the Leader of the Opposition was necessitated as the post fell vacant after Gulab Chand Kataria was appointed as the Governor of Assam in February.
Earlier, Rathore, a seven-time MLA, currently representing the Churu constituency held the post of the Deputy Leader of the Opposition. The decision regarding the selections was taken during a meeting of BJP MLAs and leaders at the State BJP headquarters. The newly appointed State president C P Joshi chaired the meeting.
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As for Punia, an MLA from the Amber constituency, he has been at the helm of BJP's state unit for three years and was recently replaced by C P Joshi. BJP insiders said that setting the party's caste equation in Rajasthan right ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections right was a key reason behind the reshuffle. They further revealed that there was resentment in the Jat community after C P Joshi, a Brahmin was made the State unit chief removing Poonia from the post.
According to BJP insiders, the saffron party tried to placate the Jat community by making Poonia the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and please the Rajput community by appointing Rathor as the Leader of the Opposition. Earlier, the BJP leadership in a bid to address the issue of faction feud in the State unit appointed C P Joshi as the Rajasthan BJP president.
