In a letter to party chief Kushabhau Thakre, Khan said he was feeling suffocated in the BJP following the attacks in Gujarat and Orissa. ``The BJP's inaction has aggravated these incidents causing insecurity in the minds of minorities in particular and peace-loving citizens in general''.The BJP's minority cell chief, Arif Beg, had resigned some time ago citing similar reasons.

Khan has been a Congress Member of Parliament and a Union Minister as well. He was probably disappointed at not being accommodated in the Union Cabinet. Khan left for Bhopal today and was unavailable for comment. In his letter, Khan said he felt ``terribly disturbed'' at the sight of broken trophies and cups in the office of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in Mumbai.

``I have been privileged to be part of the Indian hockey team that wonand brought home the World Cup in 1975, and thus cannot imagine the trophies and cups won by our teamsa matter of national prideto be defiled like this,'' he said.

Khan enclosed a letter he had written to the Prime Minister last July ``reminding'' him of the BJP's unkept promises to minorities. In that letter, Khan had criticised the BJP for not following its National Agenda of Governance and had praised Sonia Gandhi for taking ``remedial action'' immediately after taking over as Congress president.

He said Gandhi had appointed three Muslim State Congress Committee presidents adding there was an equal number of Muslims among 11 Congress members of the Rajya Sabha. ``The writing on the wall is clear, '' he had said, signalling that he may be quitting and looking at another party, possibly the Congress.