Ten of 12 BJP MPs who contested and won seats in November's state elections - including union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Patel - resigned from Parliament on Wednesday.
The resignations were procedural, since the Constitution does not allow an individual to function both as a Member of Parliament and Legislative Assembly of a state.
Ten of 12 BJP MPs who contested and won seats in November's state elections - including union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Patel - resigned from Parliament on Wednesday.
The ministers will also step down from the cabinet. Prahlad Patel, who is, for now, Minister of State for Food Processing, told news agency PTI, "I have resigned as MP and will resign from cabinet soon."
The resignations were procedural, since the Constitution does not allow an individual to function both as a Member of Parliament and Legislative Assembly of a state, NDTV reported.
The two who have not yet resigned - Baba Balaknath from Rajasthan's Alwar and Renuka Singh from Chhattisgarh's Sarguja - are expected to do so shortly, the report said.
Many of the BJP leaders who quit Parliament today are believed to be in the race to become chief ministers of the three states the party won on Sunday - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh.
Their resignations have ramped up speculation the party could make these announcements shortly, perhaps even today.?
The report quoting sources said the party may choose new faces, ruling out a fifth term for Madhya Pradesh's Shivraj Chouhan. The two other states were held by the Congress.
A nearly five-hour meeting, attended by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party boss JP Nadda, was held at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home in Delhi today.
The BJP - which routed the Congress in three states and was, in turn, beaten in two others - fielded 21 MPs, including five union ministers, across the five elections held last month. The party had seven MPs each in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, four in Chhattisgarh, and three in Telangana.
None of the BJP's big faces in Telangana managed a win; the party itself was routed in the southern state, winning just eight of the 111 seats it contested, and left watching as the Congress scored big.
Three BJP MPs lost in Rajasthan, two in Madhya Pradesh, and one in Chhattisgarh.
Some of the (now ex-) BJP parliamentarians fielded, apart from Tomar and Patel, were Baba Balaknath, Diya Kumari and Kirori Lal Meena in Rajasthan, and Vijay Baghel in Chhattisgarh.
The crucial issue of picking Chief Ministers for three heartland states ahead of next year's general elections has started with a mega meeting of BJP's top leaders at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's official residence.?
Besides PM Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah, the meeting is being attended by 12 MPs who resigned from parliament after winning the assembly polls. S
In all three states, the party had gone into polls without a Chief Ministerial candidate, contesting under the banner of PM Modi -- a move that delivered in spades.
The brain-storming has been on since Sunday, feeding speculation about a hunt for new faces.
NDTV quoting sources said that PM Modi is in favour of picking candidates on basis of class rather than caste. The buzz is that a tribal could be picked for Chhattisgarh, a Backward Classes representative in Madhya Pradesh and ?a Rajput in Rajasthan.