Jaipur: In the midst of crucial talks with agitating Gurjars, the Rajasthan government faced trouble on another front on Saturday night when two BJP MLAs belonging to the Meena community resigned in an apparent pressure tactic against granting tribal status to Gurjars.
The resignations came even as Ramdas Agarwal, state government's special envoy, claimed at the end of the third round of talks that the two sides were "moving towards a solution" raising prospects of an early end to the 23-day-old stir by Gurjars to be listed as Scheduled Tribes.
BJP MLA Kantiprasad Meena resigned shortly after former Rajasthan minister and his colleague Kirori Lal Meena quit his assembly seat in protest against the handling of the agitation by the saffron party government.
However, Agarwal said the final round of talks might be held soon.
Kirori Lal Meena, who resigned from the Vasundhara Raje cabinet over the Gurjar issue, told reporters, "I am resigning as MLA in protest against the way the Gurjar agitation has been dealt with by the government…People sitting on rail tracks pushing down the government and pestering it for all its demands. This is ridiculous."
Three other Meena MLA's including Kanhaiyalal Meena (Independent MLA supporting BJP) and two BSP MLA's Murarilal Meena and Suresh Meena warned that they would also tender their resignation if Gurjars were given ST status.
At the end of a three-and-half-hour meeting on saturday between a 28-member Gurjar delegation and nine government representatives, four members of the delegation are debating whether to go to Pilupura to brief Gurjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti leader Kirori Singh Bainsla about the deliberations.
The state government has also asked Bainsla to come to the state capital for final round of talks. Both Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Bainsla have stayed away from the parleys so far.
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