Minister, upset at being denied ticket, quits

Upset over being denied a ticket by the Bharatiya Janata Party to contest the Lok Sabha election, Union Minister of State for Shipping Dilip Gandhi on Monday announced his decision to resign from the Council of Ministers.

"I am a senior worker of the party and it will be morally difficult for me to go back to my constituency as a minister after having been denied the party ticket from Ahmadnagar in Maharashtra," Gandhi said in New Delhi.

Gandhi, however, said he would continue to serve the party under the leadership of Vajpayee, party president M Venkaiah Naidu and Maharashtra BJP president Gopinath Munde.

Later he met Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and submitted his resignation.

At the Central Election Committee meeting in New Delhi on Sunday, the BJP decided to allot Gandhi's seat to N S Pharande.