Koshiyari withdraws resignation from Rajya Sabha

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Uttarakhand B S Koshiyari withdrew his resignation from Rajya Sabha on Friday in keeping with the directive of the party's central leadership.

Koshiyari had sent his resignation letter to Chairman Hamid Ansari on Wednesday, apparently to build pressure for removal of Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri. He met Ansari here personally to withdraw his resignation letter after meeting party President Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Thursday.

"Koshiyari met the Rajya Sabha chairman and apprised him of his decision to withdraw his resignation and requested him to return the letter (of resignation)

that he had given," BJP vice president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters after the meeting.

Ansari had called Koshiyari for a meeting as per the convention that the resignation of an MP is accepted only after a meeting with the chairman of the house. The BJP chief had convinced Koshiyari to withdraw his resignation and work for resurrecting the party in Uttarakhand before the 2012 assembly election.

BJP sources said the central leadership wanted to maintain status quo under which Khanduri would continue as chief minister while Koshiyari would remain in Rajya Sabha. Khanduri had offered to quit after BJP failed to win any of the five Lok Sabha seats in the state.