Bhopal, July 19: From kitchen to cabinet and back to kitchen.

Twelve days ago, Madhya Pradesh chief minister Babulal Gaur had appointed his daughter-in-law Krishna Gaur chairperson of the state tourism development corporation, though she did not have any administrative experience.

Today, the demure housewife quietly tendered her resignation saying she did not wish to cause any embarrassment to her family and the BJP, which was yet to formally enrol her as a full-time party worker.

Sources said Gaur advised Krishna to resign as he received feelers from the RSS and central BJP leaders that her elevation to a ministerial rank had not gone down well with the establishment.

Gaur initially resisted the move on grounds that Krishna’s name had come from the organisation, but in Delhi, there were few takers of this theory.

Krishna’s unceremonious exit is also a reflection of deep-rooted factionalism in the state BJP. Several key players, namely state BJP chief Shivraj Singh Chauhan and the chairman of the state BJP’s disciplinary committee, Brajender Dharkar, said to have lobbied against her. Dharkar went on record questioning the cult of the family.

He also held former Union minister Satyanarain Jatia responsible for defeat of the BJP nominee in the recently held mayoral polls in Ujjain where Jatia’s sister Sumitra Chowdhury was the party candidate.

In the past 12 days that Krishna spent as a high-profile chairperson, she had a torrid time defending her appointment.

In every gathering that she attended, she kept saying: “Experience comes with work and since childhood I have been associated with politics and even now I belong to a political family” and “I have always been in a political environment. I have done a lot of work for the party which is why I have been given this responsibility.”

But Dharkar was unimpressed by her defence and kept repeating how the BJP could criticise the Congress for promoting dynastic rule.