Rajasthan Agricultural minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kirodi Lal Meena has submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma after party's loss from the Dausa seat in the Lok Sabha elections. The development comes after Meena had announced during the run-up to the polls that he would resign from the post if the party would lose any of the seven Parliamentary seats under his responsibility.
The resignation, which was sent a few days ago, has not been accepted yet, reported ABP News.
After the party lost the Dausa seat, speculations were rife that he would resign. Congress candidate Murari Lal Meea won this seat with 6,46,266 votes defeating BJP' Kanhaiya Lal Meena with 2,37,340 votes. BSP's Sonu Dhanka finished third followed by two Independents.
The Rajasthan agriculture, rural development, disaster management and relief minister had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi assigned him the seven seats in eastern Rajasthan on which he worked hard. Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur and Tonk-Sawai Madhopur were the other Lok Sabha constituency under Meena's responsibility where BJP faced defeat.
"Kirodi Meena resigned as minister. He gave the resignation to the chief minister 10 days back," an aide of the minister said, reported PTI.
On Thursday, the BJP leader posted the famous lines from Ramcharitramanas 'Raghukul reeti sada chali aai, pran jaai par vachan na jaai' on X to underline his unwavering intent to keep his promise at any cost.
Meena said he resigned to keep his words.
"There is no reason for resentment. I have resigned. I did not go to the recent Cabinet meeting because if I had resigned. I could go morally. I had also met the CM. He had respectfully said that he will not accept the resignation," he told a news channel on Thursday.
Meena was in the race for chief minister after BJP won a sweeping majority in the state in the December assmembly polls last year. The party command, however, picked up first-time MLA Bhajanlal Sharma to lead the state.