Kirodi Lal Meena — a senior minister in the Rajasthan government and a key tribal leader — on Thursday resigned from the government, claiming he was fulfilling his promise to step down following the BJP’s loss in the Dausa Lok Sabha seat.

The move comes close on the heels of Maharashtra BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis offering to quit as deputy chief minister last month, indicating an ongoing churn in the ruling party over the substantial dip in its Lok Sabha seats tally.

The BJP’s decrease in seats from 303 in 2019 to 240 in 2024 is mainly because of shock defeats in heartland Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. While the political upheaval in Maharashtra and Rajasthan has surfaced with resignation offers, there is enough indication of underlying tenison in Uttar Pradesh.

Fadnavis’s offer was turned down by the central leadership but Meena has been firm so far on not breaking his public promise though he has been called to Delhi for talks on Wednesday. “Raghukul reeti sada chali aai, pran jaai par vachan na jaai,” he posted the line from Ramcharitmanas on X, indicating that he was keen to stick to his promise at any cost. Meena said Rajasthan chief minister Bhajan Lal Sharma had rejected his resignation.

“The party high command has asked me to come to Delhi tomorrow (Friday). I will go there and try to convince them that I am allowed to step down to fulfil my promise to the people…. It is my moral duty to resign to maintain the credibility of my promise,” he told reporters on Thursday. “I sincerely feel that it was my failure to ensure the party’s victory in my areas of influence and so I have resigned,” he said.

Meena, 72, is a five-time MLA and two-time MP. He had been an MP of Dausa, a seat where the tribal Meenas have a substantial presence and he is believed to enjoy considerable influence over them. The leader claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given him charge to ensure the party’s victory in Dausa and other adjoining seats in the recent Lok Sabha polls.

The BJP lost not only the Dausa seat to the Congress but also three others in eastern Rajasthan, indicating that the Meenas had turned against the saffron party. Out of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the BJP could win only 14 this time. It was a poor show considering their clean sweep in 2014 and 2019.

Although the tribal leader claimed he had “no complaints and no expectations for any post”, it’s widely known that the senior leader had been sulking ever since first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma was picked as chief minister after the BJP’s victory in the state late last year while he was not even offered the deputy chief minister’s post. People close to the leader said that one of the reasons behind the Meena community not backing the BJP was “the neglect of their leader”. Currently, Meena holds the agriculture and rural development portfolio in the state government but his supporters feel it doesn’t measure up to his stature and influence.

Party insiders claimed that during his meeting with the central leadership on Friday, the senior tribal leader would be persuaded not to resign since it could cause more damage to the party. Many saw Meena’s insistence to resign as a pressure tactic to secure a more important role.