Bhubaneswar, May 9 (IANS) Orissa’s Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout Monday resigned from the cabinet on Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's instruction, official sources said.

 
 Rout who was also holding charge of the department of cooperation, fisheries and animal resources development said he has submitted his resignation papers.
 
 "He told me to resign, I resigned. It is his (chief minister's) prerogative to decide who will be his ministers," Rout told reporters.
 
 Rout was facing criticism for the past several months for his allegedly objectionable remarks against some public representatives and officials at a public meeting last year in his home district of Jagatsinghpur