BJP's Kirodi Meena resigns from Rajasthan govt, keeps his poll promise

Kirodi Lal Meena

BJP leader Kirodi Lal Meena has resigned from the Rajasthan Cabinet following the party's underwhelming performance in the state in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

The 72-year-old politician had previously pledged to resign from the Bhajan Lal Sharma administration if the BJP lost any of the seven parliamentary seats under his responsibility.

He had said Prime Minister Narendra Modi assigned him the seven seats in eastern Rajasthan on which he worked hard during the polls.

However, in the Lok Sabha poll results announced on June 4, the saffron party lost some of these seats, including Meena's native Dausa. In Dausa, Congress' Murari Lal Meena defeated BJP's Kanhaiya Lal Meena by a margin of about 2.37 lakh votes.

Overall, BJP won 14 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state, which was a downfall compared to 2019 results. In 2019, the saffron party had bagged 24 of the 25 seats.

"Kirodi Meena resigned as minister. He gave the resignation to the chief minister 10 days back," an aide of the minister said.

Taking to X, Meena posted the famous Ramcharitramanas lines 'Raghukul reeti sada chali aai, pran jaai par vachan na jaai' pointing to his intent to keep his promise at any cost.

"I announced that if I won't be able to make my party win, I'll resign, and I have done that. It is my moral duty that I should resign if my party doesn't win. I met the CM as well, and he rejected my resignation, but still, I sent my resignation by post. I will go to Delhi tomorrow," he told news agency ANI.

His name was also being considered for the chief minister's post after the Assembly election results were announced last year. However, the party high command picked up first-time MLA Bhajanlal Sharma to lead the state.

Kirodi Meena, who is a five-time MLA and former Rajya Sabha MP, has been a Lok Sabha MP from Dausa and Sawai Madhopur.