‘He has given his resignation, the party has accepted it, and I don’t want to say more on the matter.’ Thus responded a peeved Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP’s chief spokesperson, after he was hounded by the media with questions about Sanjay Joshi’s unexpected exit from the party ’s national executive yesterday.

The BJP’s two-day national executive conclave kicked off yesterday at YB Chavan Center with Joshi’s exit, which not only embarrassed party leaders, who were all set to attend the meet, happening in Mumbai after seven years, but also threw up uncomfortable questions regarding his equation with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Prasad, who briefed media persons about party president Nitin Gadkari’s opening remarks at the meet regarding internal unity and discipline in the ranks, was shot with questions whether the BJP would take disciplinary action against its chief ministers who have been less than disciplined. Prasad dodged the questions, saying, “I am not the right person to comment about the issue when the party president has already spoken about it.” He then announced the party’s decision to conduct hold a nationwide bandh on May 31 to protest the steep hike in petrol prices.