Jairam Ramesh resigns as minister to join poll campaign

Jairam Ramesh, minister of state in the ministry of commerce and the ministry of power, has resigned from the council of ministers, in order to dedicate more time for party work ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

''The President of India, as advised by the prime minister of India, has accepted the resignation of Jairam Ramesh, minister of state in the ministry of commerce and industry and minister of state in the ministry of power, from the council of ministers, with immediate effect,'' a government press release said.

Ramesh, a Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh, was a member of the committee that finalised the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) after the alliance came to power in May 2004. He was also a poll strategist for the Congress party during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

Ramesh's resignation comes after poor performance by the commerce ministry. Shipments from the country, after slipping in the negative territory in October, are likely to slow down further in the first-half of 2009.

The ministry had also long abandoned the $200-billion export target for the current fiscal.

For the first time in five years, exports from the country contracted by 12.1 per cent in October, recovering by a marginal 1.1 per cent in December 2008.