Ten of the 12 BJP MPs, including Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Patel, who won the assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh resigned from the Parliament on Wednesday.
They submitted their resignations after calling on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president JP Nadda.
Patel, who is Minister of State for Food Processing, said that he will resign from the cabinet as well. Other MPs who resigned include Rakesh Singh, Uday Pratap Singh and Ridhi Pathak from Madhya Pradesh; Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Diya Kumari and Kirori Lal Meena from Rajasthan; Arun Sao and Gomti Sai from Chhattisgarh, Hindustan Times reported.
Baba Balaknath and Renuka Singh are yet to submit their resignation. According to procedure, lawmakers have to resign either from the Parliament or state assembly with 14 days of declaration of results.
The resignation of some of these leaders have sparked speculations about whether any of them could make it to the chief minister’s chair in the states BJP won. While the BJP returned to power in Madhya Pradesh, it wrested power from the Congress in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. Amid reports that the saffron party is considering a fresh face in Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Tuesday that he is “not in the race” and will not be going to Delhi.
This could also set the stage for a rejig in the Union cabinet ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The last change in Narendra Modi’s cabinet was in May when Kiren Rijiju was replaced by Arjun Ram Meghwal as law minister.
