Deputy land minister Ichiro Tsukada resigned Friday, days after using contentious wording to claim he had influenced the allocation of funds for a major highway project he believed was favored by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso.
Tsukada made the remark on April 1 during a campaign rally for a candidate, backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, running in the Fukuoka gubernatorial election set to be held Sunday.
The sudden resignation by the senior vice minister at the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry appeared to be a damage-control effort aimed at protecting the LDP's election campaigns.