Resignation of Chhattisgarh finance minister accepted

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh has finally accepted the resignation of State Finance Minister Amar Agrawal, reports Ejaz Kaiser.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh has finally accepted the resignation of State Finance Minister Amar Agrawal on Thursday late evening and forwarded it to the Governor.

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Agrawal, who was also holding the portfolios of commercial taxes and urban development, resigned on Wednesday following a dispute with the chief minister. According to the party sources Agrawal felt humiliated when Raman Singh rebuked him during a course of meeting held at the CM House on Wednesday night.

The next morning the minister handed over his resignation to organisation general secretary in-charge for the Chhattisgarh BJP Ram Pratap Singh, who then forwarded the resignation letter to the chief minister. The resignation drama continued the entire day on Wednesday.

Agrawal has been facing criticism from within the state BJP and was blamed for the party's humiliating defeat in a high-voltage Kota assembly by-poll in his home district Bilaspur.

The chief minister, before leaving for Jagdalpur (Bastar) to participate in the Republic Day celebration, told Hindustan Times that presently he would keep the department of Finance with him. He also informed that Deputy Speaker of Chhattisgarh Assembly Badridhar Diwan would hoist the national flag on the Republic Day at Bilaspur district, where earlier Amar Agrawal was slated to participate.

Following this development there was strong rumour doing the rounds that father of Amar Agrawal and a senior-most BJP leader in Chhattisgarh Lakhiram Agrawal, who commands high-respect in the party-fold, has resigned from the primary membership of the party. Though, it could not be confirmed, as both the leaders were not available for comments.

Email Ejaz Kaiser: ejaz.kaiser@hindustantimes.com