Rajasthan minister and 5 MLAs to quit

Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Minister K L Gurjar and five Gurjar MLAs of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday offered to resign in the wake of agitation and violence on the issue of granting Scheduled Tribe status to the community.

The minister said he, along with four MLAs, was at the party office to hand over his resignations to the state BJP president Mahesh Sharma.

The five MLAs are: Hargyan Singh, Dataram, Prahalad Gunjal and Atar Singh Bhadana.

Another BJP MLA Nathu Singh Gurjar was on his way to Dausa, badly hit by the ongoing stir, the minister said.

When contacted, Sharma refused to comment and said he was looking into the matter. "I will go and see what is wrong with them," he said.

Earlier in the day, the MLAs held a closed-door meeting in the state capital to discuss the issue in the aftermath of quota agitation and violence which has claimed 14 lives so far.

"We have talked to Home Minister G C Kataria and Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on this crisis and expressed our views," Nathu Singh Gurjar said.