India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) apparently witnessed a revolt in its rank with a senior party member Tuesday openly demanding that party chief Nitin Gadkari step down in the wake of corruption allegations against him.

BJP's Member of Parliament and India's former Law Minister Ram Jethmalani said that several other senior party leaders in the party also shared his view that the BJP President resign from his post after reports of his involvement in a massive corruption scandal surfaced.

"I am in touch with Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha (all Parliamentarians) from Lok Sabha (lower house of India's Parliament). We seem to be on the same wave length. We are clearly of the opinion that resignation of the party president is imminently called for," Jethmalani told the media in the national capital.

His demand for Gadkari's resignation came a day after his son, Mahesh, a top BJP leader, resigned from the party's national executive, saying he will not continue under "corrupt" Gadkari.

The BJP chief, seeking second term in office, has been flayed recently following allegations that a company run by him had been "dubiously funded".

Gadkari denies any wrongdoing and said he "is ready to face probe".

Meanwhile, Gadkari has apologized to the nation for drawing a comparison between the country's late spiritual guru Swami Vivekanda and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, a fugitive who is on Interpol's most wanted list for his role in Mumbai blasts.

In a statement, the BJP chief said: "I would like to reiterate that I never compared Swami Vivekananda with anyone. I had absolutely no intention to project Swami Vivekananda in bad light. If my words about Swami Vivekananda have hurt the public sentiments in any manner, I express my sincere regrets."