Arif Mohammad Khan quits BJP

New Delhi, Apr 28 (UNI) Former Union Minister Arif Mohammad Khan has resigned from the BJP, piqued at ''being ignored in the party'' and for failing to secure the party's nomination for his wife in the ongoing Uttar Pradesh elections, BJP sources said.

Mr Khan, who had joined the BJP after resigning from the Ramvilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party, was a member of the National Executive. He had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket last time.

The BJP sources confirmed Mr Khan's resignation today and said he had sent his resignation letter ''long ago'' when his wife Reshma Arif was not accomodated from Behraich assembly seat.

''He has been campaigning for his wife, contesting as a candidate of Samajwadi Kranti Dal--recently floated by Mr Beni Prasad Verma--and it is not news for us at all,'' they added.

Mr Khan, who had backing of RSS for inclusion as a General Secretary in the party, could not make it when BJP President Rajnath Singh re-constituted the team of his office-bearers.

Earlier, as Minister in the Rajiv Gandhi Cabinet, Mr Khan was removed from the Ministry after he had defended the Supreme Court's decision on alimony for Muslim women in the famous Shah Banoo case.

The government had succumbed to pressures of conservative elements to amend the Constitution nullifying the Supreme Court's order.

UNI