The BJP today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resign to uphold the sanctity of his office before submitting himself to questioning by CBI in the coal scam.

"It is fine that the Prime Minister has expressed his willingness to face a CBI probe in the Coal scam and said that he is not above law... but we would like him to be questioned by the agency not in his capacity as the PM, but as the Coal Minister Manmohan Singh who approved coal blocks allotment," BJP national spokesperson Syed Shahanwaz Hussain said.

"It will demean sanctity of the high constitutional post of the Prime Minister if the CBI questions him the coal scam and so he must tender his resignation on moral ground before submitting himself to probe in the said scam," he said.

Another BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy, who was also present at the press conference, said that the PM's remarks should not be taken at face value.