Chhattisgarh: senior BJP leader Brijmohan Agrawal resigns as minister

Raipur, June 19 (PTI) Two days after resigning as an MLA following his election to the Lok Sabha, senior BJP leader Brijmohan Agrawal on Wednesday quit as a Chhattisgarh minister.

Agrawal, who held school education, higher education, parliamentary affairs, religious trusts and endowments, and tourism and cultural portfolios, submitted his resignation to Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai after a cabinet meeting at Mantralaya, Nava Raipur, in the evening.

On Monday, Agrawal had resigned from the membership of the Chhattisgarh legislative assembly.

In the recently held Lok Sabha polls, Agrawal defeated Congress's Vikas Upadhyay, a former MLA, by 75,285 votes in Raipur seat.

An eight-term MLA, Agrawal had won Raipur City South assembly seat in the last year's assembly elections by 67,719 votes against his nearest rival from Congress. Agrawal (64) is unbeaten since 1990 in elections.

He is considered one of the influential leaders of the BJP with mass appeal and the tallest leader from the Agrawal community in the state.

Talking to PTI, Agrawal said he resigned as minister after attending his last state cabinet meeting.

"I had been an MLA for 35 years. I served people as minister for three years in undivided Madhya Pradesh and 16 years in Chhattisgarh. I would like to express my gratitude to officials, employees, legislators and those who directly or indirectly worked with me and supported me," he said.

"I would also like to apologise if anyone was hurt by me during my tenure," he added.

"Now I am going to start a new innings as an MP. I assure people of my constituency and state that I will continue to work for them and serve them," he added. PTI TKP KRK