Jaipur: Rajasthan minister Surendra Goyal resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday, a day after he was denied ticket for the upcoming assembly polls in the state.
He submitted his resignation in a two-line letter to state BJP president Madan Lal Saini.
The water resources minister in Vasundhara Raje’s government was dropped from his Jaitaran seat in Pali district and was replaced by Avinash Gehlot in the first list of candidates released by the BJP on Sunday night.
Rajasthan Minister and #BJP MLA Surendra Goyal resigns from primary membership of BJP pic.twitter.com/FhShpojctx— ANI (@ANI) November 12, 2018
There had been reports since last month that the BJP could drop ministers as well as several MLAs to counter anti-incumbency in the state in the face of a stiff challenge from the Congress.
In the first list, the BJP had gone with 25 new faces. The names were announced by senior party leader JP Nadda following a meeting of the BJP central election committee which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its president Amir Shah besides other top leaders. Raje also attended the meeting.
A number of opinion polls have also given an edge to the Congress but the BJP has insisted that it will be able to repulse the opposition's challenge.
The saffron party under Raje had won a whopping 163 of the 200 assembly seats in the state in 2013, giving the Congress its worst ever drubbing at its hands. The state has for the last two decades has seen the incumbent party losing the assembly polls.
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