BJP accepts Raje's resignation, informs assembly speaker

BJP today accepted the resignation of Vasundhara Raje from the post of leader of opposition in the Rajasthan assembly and informed speaker Dipender Singh Shekhawat to this effect.

Party president Nitin Gadkari has accepted Raje's resignation, state BJP president Arun Chaturvedi told PTI adding that Gadkari informed him to communicate the decision to the Speaker.

The BJP legislature party having 78 MLAs will elect their new leader as per the direction of the party high command soon, he said.

In a letter submitted to the speaker, Chaturvedi said Ghanshyam Tiwari, deputy leader in the House, would act as Leader of Opposition till the election of a new leader.

Raje had yesterday tendered her resignation to the speaker ahead of the start of the state Budget session after defying for nearly five months the BJP leadership's directive to step down from the post following her party's poor show in Lok Sabha and assembly polls.