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BJP's Kirodi Lal Meena meets Nadda after resignation over Lok Sabha setbacks: ‘Don't want to break…’
Rajasthan agriculture minister Kirodi Lal Meena resigned from the cabinet on Wednesday evening.
BJP leader Kirodi Lal Meena on Friday met party president Jagat Prakash Nadda in the national capital, a day after announcing his resignation as Rajasthan minister following electoral setbacks in Lok Sabha seats he was tasked with overseeing. Meena, who holds key portfolios including agriculture, rural development, disaster management, and relief, had pledged to step down from the state Cabinet if the BJP lost any Lok Sabha seat under his supervision.
“Nadda Ji called me to meet…I had promised in front of the public that I would leave the position of minister if our party lost seats in Rajasthan,” Meena told reporters after the meeting.
“I don't want to break the party line... I have no complaint from the party or the CM... I have only resigned because I promised it in front of the people during the Lok Sabha elections,” the minister said.
Nadda has asked him to meet again in Delhi after 10 days.
The Rajasthan BJP leader on Thursday announced his resignation from the state cabinet and all posts to honour his promise made during campaigning in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Meena had said he would quit as minister if the BJP lost any of the seven seats in eastern Rajasthan, including the Dausa Lok Sabha seat.
The Congress-led INDIA bloc won 10 of the 25 seats in the parliamentary elections while the BJP won 14 seats in the state. Meena had campaigned in eastern Rajasthan’s Dausa, Bharatpur, Dholpur, Karauli, Alwar, Tonk-Sawai Madhopur and Kota-Bundi. Of these, the BJP managed to win only Kota and Alwar Lok Sabha seats.
In the Dausa Lok Sabha seat, Congress's Murari Lal Meena defeated BJP's Kanhaiya Lal Meena with a margin of over 2.3 lakh votes.
"It is my moral duty that I should resign if my party doesn't win. I met the CM as well, but he has rejected my resignation... I have no complaints and no expectations for any post, neither from the CM nor from the organisation..." Meena said after announcing his decision to step down.
State Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasara on Thursday claimed that some seats were allocated to candidates who were not supported by the BJP's top brass.
“Few BJP leaders are making allegations that some seats were sold (to candidates) without their knowledge, but responsibility to win on those seats was given to them. So how could they make the party win on these seats? People like Kirodi Lal Meena say that some seats were given (to candidates) without their knowledge, but they were told that the party must win those seats,” Dotasara said.
“The BJP central leadership is not meeting him, he is not being respected, even when he contributed to the party's victory in the state. Talks about whether or not the government will survive are doing the rounds in the state,” he claimed.
