Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has now been assigned the charge of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries in addition to his existing portfolios after Akali Dal’s lone Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet on Thursday as her party faced heat from farmers over its initial support to ally BJP’s farm sector bills.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday accepted the resignation of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Union Council of Ministers.
Badal, who attended the cabinet meet that cleared the bills, stepped down shortly before the bills were passed by the Lok Sabha, tweeting that she was “Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter & sister”.
Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Badal said for now, they would support the government from outside but oppose “anti-farmer policies”. But amid Congress pressure about the continuation of its alliance with the BJP, he said the matter will be decided later at a party meeting.