NEW DELHI: Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati today tendered her resignation as a Rajya Sabha member, hours after the Chair asked her to restrict her impromptu speech on anti-Dalit violence in Saharanpur of Uttar Pradesh.
Mayawati met Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari this evening and handed over her resignation letter.
"I met the chairman to hand over my resignation letter. It is not good that I cannot speak in the House on issues close to me... When I got up to speak, the government did not allow me to complete. Their members stood up and interfered. It is not good," she said after resigning.
Sources in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat said the decision on accepting Mayawati's resignation lies with the chairman.
The format states that the resignation letter should be brief and should not mention the reasons.
Earlier, in the Rajya Sabha, an angry Mayawati had said she will quit from the house after the Chair asked her to restrict her impromptu speech.
"I will resign from Rajya Sabha today," a visibly anguished Mayawati shot back when Deputy Chairman P J Kurien asked her to wrap up her speech as she had exceeded the three minutes given to her to make her submission.
Mayawati, whose term in the Upper House is till April next year, argued with Kurien saying how can she be prevented from raising the issue about her 'samaj' (community) and the Dalits. "I have not finished. You cannot do this."
"I have no moral right to be in the House if I am not allowed to put across my views on atrocities being committed against Dalits," she said.