Health Minister C.P. Thakur Sunday resigned from the government along with two other ministers ahead of Monday's reshuffle of the cabinet and party hierarchy.
Thakur, who was asked to send in his papers, complied with the directive of Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani Sunday evening but made it clear that he would not leave Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and would do whatever asked by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Rural Development Minister Naidu, who is tipped to take over as BJP president on Monday, and Law Minister Jaitley, who will form part of a young team of leadership, also sent their resignations to the prime minister.
(Xinhua News Agency July 1, 2002)
