Kirodi Meena quits Rajasthan govt as BJP loses LS seats under his responsibility
Jaipur (PTI): Kirodi Lal Meena has resigned as a minister in the Rajasthan government following the BJP's underwhelming performance in the Lok Sabha polls in the state.
During the recently held elections, Meena (72) had said he would quit the Bhajan Lal Sharma government if the BJP loses any of the seven parliamentary seats under his responsibility.
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 during the polls.
But in the Lok Sabha poll results announced on June 4, the BJP lost some of these seats, including his native Dausa. Overall the BJP won 14 of the state's 25 seats, its tally coming down from 24 in the 2019 polls.
"Kirodi Meena resigned as minister. He gave the resignation to the chief minister 10 days back," an aide of the minister said.
On Thursday, Meena posted the famous Ramcharitramanas lines '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 campaigned on eastern Rajasthan seats including Dausa, Bharatpur, Karauli- Dholpur, Alwar, Tonk-Sawaimadhopur and Kota-Bundi.
In the results declared last month, the BJP lost Dausa, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur and Tonk-Sawai Madhopur.
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 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 said he had already announced in public he would resign if the party does not win the seats he worked on.
He was also in the race of chief minister's post after the results of the assembly elections were announced in December last year, but 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.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
