President Draupadi Murmu has accepted the resignation of Delhi Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam with immediate effect after he submitted his papers following a controversy over his attendance at a religious conversion ceremony. The Delhi government accepted Gautam’s resignation and sent it to Lt Governor VK Saxena for approval, who sent it to the President for approval last week.
A notification issued by the Union Home Ministry on Tuesday said, “The President is pleased to accept the resignation of Shri Rajendra Pal Gautam, Minister of the National Capital Region, Delhi, with immediate effect, on the advice of the Chief Minister of the National Capital Region, Delhi.”
Gautam, who was the Arvind Kejriwal government’s social welfare portfolio, resigned from his post on October 9 amid controversy over his presence at religious conversion programs where hundreds of people renounced Hindu deities.
Gautam said that he resigned as a minister because he did not want the Aam Aadmi Party to get into trouble because of him.