India, BJP's president offers resignation
New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The leader of India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), LK Advani, has submitted his resignation.
He offered to step down as party president at the end of a six-day visit to Pakistan, where he praised the nation's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah: but his description of Mr Jinnah as a "secular" leader created a huge controversy back in India.
Hindu nationalist groups close to the BJP and the ruling Congress party have led the protests against his comments during his Pakistan visit.
"It is truly ironic and astounding that Mr Advani considers Mr Jinnah secular. Perhaps he would like to explain to the nation the new definition of secularism," Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told the media.
After the protests Mr Advani wrote in a letter to a senior party member "I have not said or done anything in Pakistan which I need to retract or review". In the letter he requests the BJP to "relieve" him of the post of party leader: this is Mr Advani's third term as party president.
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