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Some BJP leaders apprehend that Union ministers L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Uma Bharati may have to resign, if the special court hearing the Babri Mosque demolition case frames charges against them.

They are listed among the main accused in the CBI chargesheet. The case will come up for hearing on December 22.

There is a possibility of some of the NDA coalition partners supporting the opposition parties' demand once the charges are framed, these leaders fear. The first salvo could come either from the Telugu Desam Party or the Trinamul Congress, they say.

Prime Minister Vajpayee, who took upon himself the responsibility to decide political propriety in his reply to the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, may be left with no option but to either ask the three ministers to resign or to drop them if his allies take a strong stand.

He would not want to do that for they would spell trouble for him outside the government and the move would alienate him from the Hindu vote.

Some BJP leaders feel that, while Advani and Joshi might offer to resign if a threat to the government develops, Bharati may prefer to force the Prime Minister to sack her. Bharati, a former Vishwa Hindu Parishad worker, is closely identified with the Ram temple movement and cannot be seen to be apologetic, a party leader said.

Two Union ministers confirmed that she did not offer to resign in the house on Tuesday, although Prime Minister AB Vajpayee created a controversy by stating in the Rajya Sabha that all the three ministers had verbally offered to resign and that he rejected their offers.

In fact, a minister revealed, Advani handed a resignation letter to Vajpayee, which the latter tore up after leaving the house. Joshi had also written his resignation but did not give it to Vajpayee on Advani's persuasion.

Senior BJP leaders in the party as well as the government have been trying to build a case for the three ministers by trying to differentiate the charge sheet in the Ayodhya case from those in corruption cases.

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