Rajasthan Congress MLA Hemaram Chaudhary submits resignation

Rajasthan Congress MLA Hemaram Choudhary, one of the 19 legislators who rebelled against chief minister Ashok Gehlot last year, tendered his resignation from the state Assembly on Tuesday.

The reason behind his resignation could not be immediately known.

However, the opposition BJP alleged that the MLA resigned as he was sidelined in the party.

The Congress, on the other had said, it was their internal matter and they will resolve it soon.

"Choudhary has resigned as a member of the Legislative Assembly. The resignation letter has been sent to the Assembly speaker," the MLA’s office said on Tuesday.

An Assembly spokesperson said the resignation sent through an e-mail was received by the Assembly secretariat, on which action as per rules will be taken.

The Barmer’s Gudhamalani MLA had cornered his own government in Assembly during the budget session in March this year, accusing it of discriminating against his constituency on the issue of development.

State Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra said Choudhary is a senior and respectable leader of his party and he has spoken to Choudhary.

“This is a family matter and will be resolved soon,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, BJP leaders claimed that the MLA’s resignation has exposed the feud in the ruling party.

“It is a rare case where an MLA has resigned as issues and problems of people of his constituency were not being addressed. I have seen him in the House for a long time and whenever he speaks in the House, he speaks from his heart,” said Gulab Chand Kataria, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.

Deputy Leader of Opposition Rajendra Rathore said the MLA's resignation showed that there is no internal democracy in the Congress.

“A senior leader was ignored to an extent that he had to resign,” he said.