Top Rajasthan leaders skip BJP core group meeting on organisational issues

The first meeting of a newly formed 16-member core group of the BJP, which has been put in place amid reports of factionalism within the party, was held in Jaipur on Sunday.

National vice president and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, Leader of Opposition Gulabchand Kataria and Rajya Sabha MP Bhupendra Yadav, however, skipped the meeting for different reasons, a party leader said here.

State BJP president Satish Poonia said various organisational issues were discussed in the meeting of the core group.

Raje could not attend as her daughter-in-law is unwell, while Kataria and Yadav had separate engagements, he said.

"There was no political reason behind the absence of leaders in the meeting. There is no factionalism in the party," Poonia asserted.

BJP national general secretary and state in-charge Arun Singh and co-in-charge Bharti Ben held discussions with the core group members on organisational and political issues, party leaders said.

Rajya Sabha MP Om Mathur, Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Kailash Chaudhary, BJP national secretary Alka Singh, party's state vice-president Rajendra Gehlot and other members attended the meeting.