Rajasthan Governor Madan Lal Khurana on Monday resigned to rejoin active politics, saying he considered the people of Delhi "my gods and goddesses".

He submitted his resignation to President A P J Abdul Kalam at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.

Earlier, at a press conference at Jodhpur House, Khurana said he had decided to quit in view of the "problems" being faced by Delhiites.

Amid bursting of crackers and chanting of slogans by hundreds of his followers, the former Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party president indicated that he was forced to leave the capital and go to Rajasthan after the party failed to wrest power from the Congress.

"It was my biggest mistake to accept the assignment," said Khurana, who was appointed governor by the National Democratic Alliance government in January.

He said when the BJP high command asked him to go to Rajasthan after the Delhi assembly polls last December, "I asked them to keep me here till the Lok Sabha election. But I was ordered (to go)."

He maintained that the BJP's performance in the general election in Delhi and Haryana would have been better if he had been allowed to remain in the capital.

"We would have bagged at least two or three of the seven seats against the one we got in Delhi. In Haryana also, we would have got a minimum of two to three of the nine seats and not just one," he claimed.

Khurana said that the President had asked him to continue till alternative arrangements were made. He said he was grateful to the President for the honour bestowed on him as governor of Rajasthan.

Khurana said he had spent "sleepless nights" during the entire tenure in Rajasthan. "I cannot enjoy the comforts of Raj Bhawan while people in Delhi face problems. It is not in my blood."