This Article is From Jun 01, 2009

Meira Kumar resigns as Union Minister

Meira Kumar resigns as Union Minister
New Delhi:

Union Minister Meira Kumar has resigned as the Union Minister of Water Resources just two days after taking charge after she was chosen by the Congress as the party candidate for the post of Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Meira, earlier on Sunday, met Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi amid indications from the party that she was the frontrunner for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.

Meira, who is considered as Congress's Dalit face met Gandhi at 10 Janpath, a day after she emerged as the top contender for the post at a meeting of senior party leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Kumar, 64, daughter of former Deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram, is an MP from Bihar's Sasaram constituency and would be the first woman to hold the office of Lok Sabha Speaker, if selected.

Details of what transpired in the meeting between Kumar and Sonia were yet to be known.

Kumar, a five-time MP, came as a surprise choice as the name of veteran Congressman from Andhra Pradesh Kishore Chandra Deo was doing the rounds in the media for the last fortnight as the party's choice for the Speaker's post.

At the meeting yesterday, the race appeared to have narrowed down to Kumar and former Union Minister Girija Vyas, sources said.

The post of Deputy Speaker has been offered to BJP with the Prime Minister himself calling up senior BJP leader L K Advani to make the proposal, a convention that has been followed for a couple of decades.

Later, Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Achary called on Kumar.

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