Leader of Opposition

In the elections in 2008, BJP in Rajasthan won 78 seats, just 18 seats less than the Congress party’s tally of 96 seats out of 200 member State Assembly. The Congress Party formed a coalition government and she was elected as Leader of Opposition but after a while, Bhartiya Janata Party ( BJP) required her to function as a General Secretary and in this period, she looked after organizational matters of the party. Since March 2013, she was re- elected by the BJP party legislators as ‘Leader of Opposition’ in the Legislative Assembly.

Upholding the traditions of parliamentary democracy in India she had been giving direction to the legislators of the party to act responsibly and with probity, in and out of the Assembly and act as a watchdog over instances of mis-governance, inaction on part of the administration to ensure that the fruits of development reach the masses and maintain regular touch with people from all social strata. In her role as Leader of opposition the media, the ‘bush fire’ intelligence and provisions such as the Right to information Act are the tools which she has put to effective use to ensure that the development agenda set by her government are not compromised with and people are not made to suffer. Not being in power has responsibilities and greater challenges of its own. Constant public contact with the aim of understanding and empathizing with their problems and solving them, to the extent feasible under the circumstances are extremely important and Smt. Vasundhara Raje has discharged her arduous responsibilities accordingly.