Shehzad Poonawalla presses BJP to accept his resignation

BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla has again submitted his resignation to party president Nitin Nabin, urging the party to accept it after his earlier letter was rejected. The Hindustan Times reports Poonawalla cited pressing financial and personal circumstances, and hinted at tensions with some party members, saying events of the last few days had forced him to stand by his decision.

Poonawalla, who joined the BJP in 2017 after quitting the Congress, updated his X bio to remove the BJP reference. It now reads: "Religion, Islam, Culture, Hindu, ideology-Bhartiya, Author: GST ki Yatra, Lifelong follower of PM Narendra Modi." The Hans India notes that in recent videos, Poonawalla had suggested he was preparing to leave active politics, saying holding power was not the only way to serve society.

In his latest letter, which he posted on X, Poonawalla described himself as a "young, Pasmanda Muslim, non dynast" and thanked PM Modi, Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and others for their support. Neither Poonawalla nor the BJP has made a formal statement on the final status of the resignation.