Rajasthan Cabinet minister Kirodi Lal Meena resigns

BJP leader Kirodi Lal Meena resigned as Rajasthan Cabinet minister, reported PTI quoting his aide after the party performed poorly in the constituencies under his watch in the Lok Sabha elections.

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

Sharing a verse from the Ramcharitmanas on social media platform X, Meena said, “Raghukul Reeti Sada Chali Aai, Pran Jaai Par Bachan Na Jaai”.

Meena, who held the cabinet portfolio as agriculture, rural development, disaster management and relief minister, had pledged to resign from the post if the BJP lost any of the seven seats he had campaigned in the Lok Sabha elections.

Rajasthan Lok Sabha 2024 elections winners list

He 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.

Meena said he resigned to keep his word. "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.

On June 3, a day before the counting of votes, Kirodi Lal Meena said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given him a list of seven seats in eastern Rajasthan on which he worked hard.

“Before the PM came to Dausa, I had said that if the (Dausa) seat is not won, I will leave the post of minister. Later, the PM spoke to me separately and gave me a list of 7 seats. I worked hard on 11 seats, more on 7. If the party loses even one seat out of those 7, I will leave the post of minister.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which had swept the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Rajasthan by winning 24 out of 25 seats, saw its tally going down to 14 in the 2024 elections, while the Congress, which had drawn a blank, grabbed eight seats. Congress's allies – CPI(M) and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party – clinched one seat each.