10 members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Parliament, including two union ministers who emerged victorious in the assembly elections, resigned from the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, according to persons familiar with the situation.

Following their meetings with BJP President JP Nadda and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the ten MPs tendered their resignations. They went to the speaker’s office with the party president in tow, where nine MPs tendered their resignation. Kirori Lal Meena, the 10th MP, tendered his resignation to the chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

In Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh, state elections were won by 12 MPs, according to a BJP leader.

The ten MPs who have resigned are: Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Diya Kumari, Kirori Lal Meena (a member of the Rajya Sabha); Arun Sao and Gomti Sai from Chhattisgarh; and Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel, Rakesh Singh, Uday Pratap Singh, and Riti Pathak from Madhya Pradesh.

Baba Balaknath, a Lok Sabha MP from Rajasthan, and Renuka Singh, a Chhattisgarh native who was elected as the union minister of state for tribal affairs, have not yet tendered their resignations.

The responsibility for agriculture is held by Narendra Singh Tomar, while the state minister for food processing and Jal Shakti is Prahlad Patel.

The fourth minister the BJP fielded in the state elections, Faggan Singh Kulaste, is the minister of state for steel and rural development, however he was unable to win the assembly seat.

These Members of Parliament are expected to tender their resignations, and there have been rumours of a potential reorganisation within the Union Council of Ministers.

In July 2021, the Union Council underwent its most recent major restructuring with the appointment of 43 ministers, comprising 36 new members. The most recent alteration occurred in May when Kiren Rijiju was replaced as law minister by Arjun Ram Meghwal, a minister of state. The position of minister for earth sciences was given to Rijiju.

DMK MP DNV Senthilkumar S expressed regret over the controversial remark made in Parliament yesterday while targeting the Bharatiya Janta Party and said he was withdrawing his statement. He had apologized for his comments on social media. He took to X (formerly twitter) and wrote commenting on the results of the five state elections, he did not use a word in an appropriate way. Not using that term with any intent, he apologized for sending the wrong meaning across.

He said in the Lok Sabha the statement made by him yesterday inadvertently, if it had hurt the sentiments of the members and sections of the people, he would like to withdraw it. He requested the words to be deleted and he regret it. The ruling BJP termed at as disrespect of the Sanatani tradition and objected to this type of language in the parliament. Opposition leaders including Rajiv Shukla Congress MP’s Karti Chidambaram also condemned the statement.

Congress MP Manickam Tagore said they condemned what the DMK MP had said. He said what the Alliance partner is speaking cannot be attatched to Congress. He said the Congress stands for India and respects all religions. He further added this is a planned conspiracy by the BJP to stop the functioning of the parliament and divert its focus from the real issues.  The remarks were deleted from the DMK MP’s speech by Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla.

The third day of the 2023 Winter session started with shouts of Maafi Mango from BJP MPs even before the speaker started the proceedings of the day in Lok Sabha. Union Minister Piyush Goyal sought an apology from DMK MP TR Baalu for Kumar’s comments in the House. He said Baalu should apologise first. He asked how will the House function like this? Goyal asked how can any person say anything in this house and go? He demanded an apology from the DMK MP.

Javeria Khanum, a woman from Pakistan’s Karachi, arrived in India on Tuesday to marry her fiancé Sameer Khan, a Kolkata resident. The Indian government has granted the 21-year-old woman a 45 day visa. Khanum entered India through the Wagah border and was welcomed by her fiancé Sameer Khan and future father-in-law Ahmed Kamal Khan Yousafzai dancing to the beats of dhol.

Talking to the media Javeria said she wanted to thank the Indian government for their co-operation. She said borders do not matter when the intentions are pure. The couple is going to get married in January next year, after which she will apply for a long term visa.

Khanum said it is a happy ending and a happy beginning. She said everyone was very happy in her house. She said she could not believe she got the visa after five years. Maqbool Ahmed Wasi Qadian is a journalist and a social worker. He helped Javeria in getting the visa to come to India. He has helped many Pakistani brides in getting visas.

Talking to the media Sameer said his relationship had started in 2018. He had come back from Germany where he had been studying. He saw Javeria’s photograph on his mother’s phone and expressed his interest. He told his mother that he wanted to get married to Javeria. He said his friends from his time in Germany from Africa, Spain, the United States and other countries are going to attend the wedding in January.

In a similar incident a Pakistani national identified as Seema Haider crossed the Indian border via Nepal to marry a Noida based man Sachin Meena. Their relationship has become a topic of debate and discussion on national media. In another case an Indian women Anju had gone to Pakistan to marry her facebook friend Nasrullah. But she recently returned to India through the Wagah border.