Bihar's minister refuses to reconsider resignation

A day after Parveen Amanullah, the first Muslim woman minister in Bihar, resigned as social welfare minister and from the ruling Janata Dal (United), she said she will not reconsider her decision.

"There is no question of taking back my resignation," Amanullah told media persons here Wednesday after she met Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at his official residence.

Amanullah, who was called by Nitish Kumar to persuade her to take back her resignation, made it clear that her association with JD-U has ended.

"I don't have any grievances and enmity with anyone. But there is a need to improve the present system," she said.

Amanullah refused to disclose the reasons behind her decision to quit the cabinet and party, though she hinted at her anger against the system which she said prevented her from functioning according to her desire.

She said her future plans are open and she would take a decision soon. She has not ruled out joining the Aam Aadmi Party and contesting the Lok Sabha elections.

"Let's see what happens next," she said.

Senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi has, meanwhile, invited her to join the party.

A Bihar minister also supported her over her complaint against the system.

"Certainly, there are some shortcomings in the system. I agree with her that the system has to be questioned. We are fighting to improve the system in Bihar after coming to power ... in a government led by Nitish Kumar," Bhim Singh, panchayat and rural development minister, said.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh, however, said he had been fighting to improve the system for 40 years. "How did Amanullah get fed up with it in three years," he said.

Amanullah is the daughter of diplomat-turned-politician Syed Shahabuddin and wife of IAS officer Afzal Amanullah.

In 2009, she was keen to contest for the Lok Sabha from Kishanganj as the JD-U candidate but was denied a ticket. Her father had won the seat in the 1990s.

Amanullah, an RTI activist before 2010, said she was open to returning to social work.

In the 2010 assembly polls, she had won from Sahebpur Kamal, a Muslim-dominated constituency in Begusarai district.