Three Asom Gana Parishad(AGP) Ministers resigned from the Assam Cabinet on Wednesday, two days after their party exited the Government over the Citizenship Amendment Bill.
Agriculture Minister Atul Bora, Water Resources Minister Keshav Mahanta and Food and Civil Supplies Minister Phanibhushan Choudhury submitted their resignations to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at the Janata Bhawan (state secretariat) here, Bora told reporters after tendering his resignation.
The strength of the BJP-led coalition Ministry, led by Sonowal, has been reduced to 15, of whom 12 are from the saffron party, including the Chief Minister, and three BPF Ministers.
"The Centre's obstinacy not to withdraw the bill forced us to take a decision to come out of the Government as we cannot go against the interest of the Assamese people," Bora, who is also the AGP president, said.
The AGP is a "party formed by the blood of martyrs (shahider tez) who sacrificed their lives to protect the existence and identity of the Assam. We cannot disrespect their sacrifice by remaining in power when the Centre decided to go ahead with the bill.
"We tried our best till the last minute to convince the Centre not to go ahead with the bill but when Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh made it clear that the Centre would not budge from its obstinate stand, we decided to withdraw from the Government," he said.
Bora said, "We are with the people and will join in their struggle to protect their interests at all cost."
The AGP president also thanked the people and expressed the party's gratitude for electing them in 2016 and said respecting their verdict, they had joined the Government with the BJP and the BPF.
"We respect and are grateful to the people of Assam for giving us a chance to serve them," he added.
Asked what the chief minister told them about the resignation, Bora said he talked about constitutional safeguards in the bill.