Kirodi Lal Meena in Delhi to meet JP Nadda after quitting as Raj minister

Jaipur, July 5 (IANS) Days after tendering his resignation from the post of Agriculture Minister in the Rajasthan Cabinet, veteran BJP leader Kirodi Lal Meena reached New Delhi on Friday for a meeting with party National President, JP Nadda.

Meena shocked political circles in Rajasthan on Thursday when he revealed that he had quit 30 days ago and given his resignation letter to Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma.

When CM Sharma rejected it, Meena mailed the resignation letter to him, which has still not been accepted by the Rajasthan government.

Now, all eyes are set on his meeting with BJP chief JP Nadda.

Meanwhile, sources said that it is difficult for the BJP to accept Meena’s resignation, because it is necessary to keep him as a minister till the bye-elections are over.

Out of the five seats set for bye-elections Chaurasi, Deoli and Dausa are tribal-dominated ones and if Meena steps down, things might get difficult for the party on these three seats.

In the Lok Sabha elections, the party suffered losses on 11 seats on the issue of abolishing reservation.

Hence, Meena’s role in managing this issue is quite significant for the bypolls as he is a firebrand tribal leader.

Meanwhile, BJP state President CP Joshi has said that the Agriculture Minister has been requested to continue giving the benefit of his experience in the government.

CP Joshi said the CM has also been spoken to and the effort is on to retain Meena as minister.

Sources said that in view of the bypolls, the BJP is careful not to displease any community and hence it is difficult for the party to accept Meena’s resignation.

Meanwhile, sources said that Meena is unhappy as he was not made the Deputy CM and was also not able to appoint people of his choice in his department.

Meena’s resignation is the second in six months of the Bhajanlal Government.

At the time of formation of the new government, Minister of State (Independent Charge) Surender Pal Singh TT lost the bypoll in Sriganganagar’s Karanpur constituency, so he had to resign on the same day.