Kalyan Singh resigns as BJP's UP in-charge

Owning moral responsibility for the party's dismal performance in the recent assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Bharatiya Janata Party national vice-president Kalyan Singh on Tuesday resigned as party in-charge of the state.

In a letter to BJP president Rajnath Singh, Kalyan Singh said as the elections in the state were fought under his (Kalyan's) leadership, he owns moral responsibility for the party's poor performance.

He has requested the party president to accept his resignation with immediate effect. He also suggested that all party office bearers concerned should sit and introspect the poll results seriously for at least three days.

The former chief minister said he honestly feels the entire organisational setup of the party from divisional to state level should be "revamped and strengthened to successfully face future challenges".

Noting that such a revamp was all the more essential as the next general elections were only two years away, Singh said the party would have prepare its "soldiers and commanders for it."

He also asked party workers to be optimistic and not to lose heart. The BJP had projected Singh as its chief ministerial candidate in the polls in which the BSP under Mayawati registered a thumping win to assume power.

The tally of the saffron party came down sharply to 51 from 88 in the 2002 polls.