M Venkaiah Naidu, vice president of the Bhartiya Janata Party, confirmed the resignation of Sanjay Joshi from the general secretaryship of the party.

Addressing newsmen after television channels ran stories about the resignation of Sanjay Joshi, Naidu was sent by the party chief to clarify the situation.

"This is true that Sanjay Joshi came to Mumbai on Monday and he met the party president Lal Kishenchand Advani and told him that he would resign from the post till an internal probe is conducted into the manner in which a slander campaign against him has been launched by certain vested interests.

First a letter was sent to the newsmen, then an audio-tape was released and now a CD has been released. Sanjay Joshi sent the audio tape for examination and it was found that the voice was not his. But on  the release of the CD, he decided to register a complaint with Bhopal police who are investigating the matter. Advaniji, after consultations with senior party leaders, decided that the party should accept the resignation of Sanjay Joshi for the time being till the inquiry into the entire case is completed and those behind it are brought to justice," Naidu said.

He refused to take questions after making the statement.

Earlier, Sanjay Joshi, who could not be seen at the Rajat Jayanti Convention of the BJP in Mumbai, had tendered his resignation from the general secretaryship of the party and had left for Nagpur. He sent the letter to the outgoing president of the party L K Advani.

According to party sources, Joshi, who was looking after the party administration, had been deputed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to help the party run smoothly.

Govindacharya, a close associate of expelled BJP leader Uma Bharti, claimed that Sanjay Joshi had been withdrawn by the RSS. "I think the whole thing is related to a controversial CD on him, which forced Joshi to resign," he told rediff.com. 

Sometime back, a letter was circulated to the media in which a woman alleged that she had sexual relations with Sanjay Joshi. She had even lodged a complaint with the National Women's Commission against Joshi.

Since then, Joshi had been keeping a low profile and refrained from making any statements against Uma Bharti.

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