5 Jan : Haribhau Rathod, who was expelled by the BJP for defying party whip during the 22nd July trust vote, has resigned from his Lok Sabha seat, it was officially announced on Monday.Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee accepted the resignation of Rathod, who was elected from Yavatmal Parliamentary seat in Maharashtra.He defied the party whip and stayed away from voting during the confidence vote in the Lok Sabha.BJP activists staged noisy protests and attacked his residence at Yavatmal for remaining absent during the trust vote when the party had issued a three-line whip asking members to be present in the House and vote against the motion.
Rathod has been getting close to Congress in recent months amid reports that his name could be considered by the party in the next Lok Sabha polls.
Two opposition MPs from Maharashtra had stayed away from the trust vote. While one was Rathod, another was Tukaram Renge Patil of Shiv Sena representing Parbhani constituency.
Rathod said he resigned from Lok Sabha because government "neither paid any heed to his repeated demand for giving seven per cent separate reservation to denotified tribes nor so far implemented the recommendations of the National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-nomadic Tribes."
The National Commission for Denotified, Nomadic and semi-Nomadic Tribes, which went into their socio-economic conditions, recommended measures for their all-round upliftment and suggested reservation for them in its report submitted to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in July last year.
"I had told my people that I will resign if government did not fulfill my demands till January 5. I have been struggling for the members of the denotified tribes for long and I have to stand by them," Rathod, who represents Banjara community, said.