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MLA’s bid to quit House fails again

Special Correspondent

Speaker decides not to act on Kirorilal Meena’s resignation
He had tried to put in papers in May over Gujjar stir

JAIPUR: The second attempt by former Rajasthan Minister Kirorilal Meena in the past two months to resign from the Assembly too failed when Speaker Sumitra Singh on Thursday decided not to act on his resignation letter.

Mr. Meena, who is perhaps the most visible face of the tribal Meena community’s resistance to the grant of Scheduled Tribe status to Gujjars, had first tried to step down in May accusing the Vasundhara Raje Government of taking a soft stand on the violent Gujjar stir.

Mr. Meena met Ms. Sumitra Singh in her chamber in the Assembly for 15 minutes on Wednesday, the day the Bill according five per cent reservation to Gujjars under a special category was passed, to hand over his resignation.

His previous attempt at stepping down had come to naught with Ms. Singh setting aside his resignation letter with the argument that he did not personally meet her and submit the letter. Those days Ms. Singh was away in her home district, Jhunjhunu.

In fact Mr. Meena, MLA from Sawai Madhopur, had resigned as Food and Civil Supplies Minister a few months ago advancing the argument that he would work for unity among Meenas and Gujjars. Thereafter, he had been touring the districts of Sawai Madhopur, Karuali and Dausa, the areas that have heavy population of both the communities.

The reverberations of Mr. Meena’s resignation echoed in the Rajasthan Assembly on the last day of the special session convened to provide reservation to Gujjars when Mohammed Mahir Azad of the Congress sought to know from the Speaker the status of the member. Responding, Ms. Singh gave the impression that she would not act on the resignation.

“Mr. Meena gave me a conditional resignation. As I found him stressed when he met me, I decided not to act on his letter,” Ms. Singh informed the House.

The chief whip of the ruling party, Mahavir Prasad Jain, got up to explain that Mr. Meena had undergone mental ups and downs ever since he had an accident some time back.

“I stand by my resignation. I personally met the Speaker the other day to request her to accept my resignation letter,” Mr. Meena said talking to The Hindu. “My resignation is part of my strong reservation on the way the Government tackled the Gujjar agitation,” he said.

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