I had announced at the Chennai meeting of the BJP National Executive that I will step down as president. I have done so.

We expect that the president will discuss the issue with the chief election commissioner and take a decision.

He (Sardar Patel) had said that you give reservation to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, but never reserve posts for minorities. We also say the same thing, but this government (the United Progressive Alliance) is set to appease minorities for vote bank politics.

At this time, all we can do is pray that he comes out of this strong.

All such divisive policies are detrimental to national unity and integrity.

The Agra summit (2001) failed because we were not ready to make any compromise on that stand.