New Delhi, July 13 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday accepted the resignation of Gurudas Kamat a day after the Congress leader declined to accept his new portfolio of drinking water and sanitation -- apparently unhappy over not being given a key ministry and cabinet berth.

The prime minister has accepted Kamat's resignation and recommended to President Pratibha Patil that it may be accepted, sources in the Prime Minister's Office said.

Kamat did not attend the swearing-in ceremony for new ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan Tuesday evening, openly demonstrating his protest over his transfer in the reshuffle from minister of state for home affairs to the newly-created ministry of drinking water and sanitation as junior minister with independent charge.

The senior Congress leader from Maharashtra immediately flew home to Mumbai Tuesday evening and issued a statement from there after the swearing-in ceremony was over in New Delhi.

Kamat said he decided to quit the ministry for "totally personal" reasons and wanted to work actively for the Congress party.

He denied he was upset about the new ministry. "Neither have I been sacked nor threatened. It is my own personal request to be relieved."

He said he had already written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh asking them to relieve him of his ministerial responsibilities.