Venkaiah Naidu offers to resign

Bharatiya Janata Party [ Images ] chief M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday offered to resign, accepting moral responsibility for the party's poor showing in Maharashtra [ Images ] assembly elections.

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Naidu made the offer at a meeting of senior leaders of the party at former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's [ Images ] residence on Saturday.

"Yes, it is true Naidu has offered to resign," a senior BJP leader told rediff.com on phone.

He said Naidu's offer will be taken up when senior leaders meet at the party headquarters in New Delhi [ Images ] on Monday. Vajpayee and former deputy prime minister Lal Kishenchad Advani [ Images ] are likely to attend the meeting.

Party sources, however, indicated that Naidu's resignation is unlikely to be accepted in a hurry.