Amidst the demands from the opposition for the resignation of the Chief Minister post, embattled Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has returned to Jaipur after a short visit to Delhi this morning to attend NITI Aayog (National Institute for Transforming India Aayog) meeting.

NITI Aayog is a policy think-tank of Government of India that replaces planning commission and aims to involve the states in economic policy-making in India.

Now the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s political weights Sushma Swaraj and Vasundhara Raje are facing allegations over their close ties with tainted cricket boss Lalit Modi.

Ms Raje, who came to Delhi in a helicopter this morning, returned without meeting any BJP leader.

Party sources were tight-lipped on whether the Rajasthan Chief Minister had sought any appointment to meet either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or party President Amit Shah.

62-year-old Ms Raje's visit came a day after the central leadership of her party backed her, after holding out on voicing its support for days. The Rajasthan BJP has refuted all allegations against her, saying the document which she signed in support of Mr Modi's immigration application to the UK government was never produced in court as she had backed out of it later.

The state unit of the party also claimed that Mr Modi's investment in the chain of hotels owned by her son was legal and had been disclosed to authorities.

The top leadership of the party is learnt to have accepted Ms Raje's defence as Prime Minister Narendra Modi met BJP chief Amit Shah and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday over the issue.

The Congress has accused Ms Raje of quid pro quo in helping Mr Modi and launched a relentless attack on her, demanding her resignation.

Ms Raje has maintained silence over the raging row even though her office has termed the allegations "untrue", claiming that they were aimed at harming her politically.

The BJP for its part has said it "fully supports" her. The party has called her its tallest and most popular leader in the state, where she has led the party to its biggest Assembly and Lok Sabha wins.

At a press conference in the BJP office in Jaipur on Friday, Rajasthan Medical and Health Minister RS Rathore had said that Raje will also attend a NITI-Aayog sub-committee meeting on Saturday.

Ms Raje was scheduled to visit London from June 27 to July 2 but cancelled her UK tour early this week due to the NITI Aayog meet.

- Manohar