Bihar cabinet minister's resignation accepted

A day after Bihar's Industry and Disaster Management Minister Renu Kumari Kushwaha resigned from the Nitish Kumar cabinet, her resignation was accepted by the chief minister Tuesday.

Ruling Janata Dal (United) (JD-U) state president Vashsisht Narain Singh said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has accepted her resignation.

However, she has made it clear that she would not resign from the party for now.

According to the JD-U leaders, Nitish Kumar tried to persuade her, but she told him that as her husband Vijay Kumar Singh has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), she has no moral authority to continue as the minister.

The JD-U leaders close to her said she was unhappy at not being given more importance in the party and was keen to contest the Lok Sabha polls either on a Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) or a BJP ticket from Khagaria or Madhepura seat.

She had won from the Khagaria seat as a JD-U candidate in 1999 polls.

Kushwaha, in her early 50s, who belongs to agrarian backward caste Koeri, is the second woman minister to quit the cabinet within a month. With her resignation, there is no representation of women in the state cabinet.

Last month, Bihar's first Muslim woman minister, Perween Amanullah, quit the cabinet and the JD-U party. She later joined the Aam Aadmi Party and is actively campaigning for it.

Kushwaha's husband, Vijay Kumar Singh joined the BJP Monday in the presence of BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during his visit to address a rally in Purnea district.

Last month, an alliance was finalised between the BJP and LJP in Bihar with the BJP setting aside seven seats for the LJP.