West Bengal sports minister Laxmi Ratan Shukla resigns from cabinet ahead of elections

Former cricketer Laxmi Ratan Shukla, the MoS for sports and youth affairs, resigned from Mamata Banerjee's cabinet on Tuesday.

He wanted to stay away from politics, sources close to the minister said and for this reason he tendered his resignation and also resigned from the post of president of Howrah Trinamool Congress.

He is the second minister after Suvendu Adhikari to resign from the cabinet. Suvendu has already joined BJP along with his brother Soumendo.

Trinamool Congress is already trying to retain another minister, Rajib Banerjee, for which party's secretary-general Partha Chatterjee had held talks with him.

However, Shukla will continue to be a Trinamool Congress MLA. The former cricketer was inducted in TMC in 2016 and he contested from Howrah Uttar seat and won the assembly seat by a margin of 30,000 votes against actor Roopa Ganguly of BJP.

He has also resigned from the post of Howrah district president post of TMC. Shukla said he has stepped down as Minister of Youth Services and Sports as he wanted to concentrate more on cricket. He continues to be a TMC MLA.The former cricketer had expressed his displeasure in his close circles for being unable to function properly. However, he mentioned in his letter to the CM he wants to devote time fro cricket and wanted to continue as a Trinamool MLA. The CM said that the resignation letter had been forwarded to the governor.

Laxmi Ratan Shukla at a TMC rally with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee

CM Mamata Banerjee said that Laxmi is a good person and he wants to be back to the cricket field and for which he wants more time for cricket and for which his resignation letter has been accepted.

However, Saugata Roy, Trinamool MP, described the resignation as a sad thing and wanted the party to retain him.

Aroop Roy, minister of co-operative affairs, said that the resignation of Shukla before the polls will not help the party in any way.