I followed the "due procedure of resignation," Premsai Singh Tekam said.
Chhattisgarh School Education Minister Premsai Singh Tekam on Thursday said he had resigned from his post amid talk that a cabinet reshuffle was on the cards.
The development came a day after state Congress chief Moham Markam was replaced by MP Deepak Baij. Speculation is rife that Markam could get a cabinet berth.
“It is the discretion of the Chief Minister to keep someone in the cabinet or to remove someone....I was told that the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has directed that I should resign,” Tekam told reporters.
He had followed the “due procedure of resignation”, he added.
Cabinet reshuffle is a routine process, said Tekam who also held the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes and Minorities Development and Cooperative departments.
Asked about his future role, he said, "I will work for Assembly elections (due this year-end) as per the direction of the party." Talking to reporters in Janjgir-Champa district, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said Tekam had submitted his resignation to the governor.
When asked whether Markam will be made minister, Baghel said, “Wait for some time." Tekam, a six-time MLA and senior tribal leader from Surguja region, represents Pratappur Assembly constituency in Surajpur district.
The 69-year-old leader was elected for the first time as an MLA in 1980 in undivided Madhya Pradesh and served as a minister in the Madhya Pradesh government.
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