India's beleaguered main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been dealt another blow, this time a scandal involving the alleged sexual high-jinks of an avowedly celibate official.
The Hindu nationalist party is holding a five-day meeting to celebrate its 25th anniversary, but the media has instead trumpeted the resignation of a party secretary Sanjay Joshi.
Joshi stepped down Tuesday after a sexually explicit CD allegedly showing him romping with an unidentified woman made the rounds among BJP members and the media.
"Keeping in view Joshi's request, he was being relieved of his responsibility till the completion of (a) probe," party president Lal Krishna Advani told party leaders at their meeting in Mumbai, according to the Press Trust of India news agency.
Joshi, who is also a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the BJP's hard-line Hindu backers, had apparently taken a voluntary vow of celibacy as some full-time RSS workers do.
The sex scandal may also overshadow the official announcement of a new party president to replace Advani, expected to take place after the close of the party meeting on December 30. A low-key party member, Rajnath Singh, has reportedly been chosen to succeed the hawkish Advani. But it is not clear whether he will able to end the turmoil which has hit the BJP since its shock election defeat by the Congress party in May last year.
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