Jagdambika Pal quits LS and Congress

Amid speculation that he was warming up to BJP, senior Congress leader from Uttar Pradesh Jagdambika Pal on Friday resigned from Lok Sabha as well as from the party.  65-year-old Pal, an MP from Dumariyaganj, said, ‘I met Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar on Friday and tendered my resignation. I have resigned from my Lok Sabha seat as well as from the party.’ He said that after serving in Congress for so long, he had been getting a feeling for sometime that he is not being able to put forth his views and suggestions and there was a problem in communciation with the leadership. Seeking to reject the contention that he quit Congress on the eve of Lok Sabha polls as it may be difficult for him to retain his seat on a Congress ticket, Pal said that he had won three Assembly polls and a Lok Sabha election on Congress tickets in UP.