I will not step down as BJP president: Rajnath Singh

New Delhi, Jan 30 : Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said that there was no question of him resigning as party's president over an offensive compact disc that caused a national furore during Uttar Pradesh Assembly poll in April 2007.

"Yesterday I was watching a television channel, which was saying I must resign on moral grounds. I would like to ask the people of that channel whether they knew that I was not there," said Rajnath Singh.

He further said that despite of all this "the Election Commission has wrongly lodged an FIR in the case. I think the representatives of the channel, who had played this, should inquire about such issues."

The disc was allegedly produced by the party's state spokesperson Manoj Mishra and was reportedly released by BJP leader Lalji Tandon.

The contents of the disc were made public by a national news channel. The Election Commission took notice of the contents and inferred they were communally inciting and against the model code of conduct.

A few FIRs were lodged against Tandon and Rajnath Singh on the direction of the Election Commission.

The BJP had claimed the CD was released accidentally, citing a communication gap between its central and Uttar Pradesh BJP unit and said that it was not a part of its official campaign material.

The BJP was miffed over the indictment by the commission and felt that one of its members, Navin Chawla, had played a partisan role in implicating Rajnath Singh and Lalji Tandon.

ANI