BJP leader Sanjay Joshi, bete noire of the Gujarat Chief Minister, on Thursday resigned ahead of the party National Executive meeting beginning here, a move seen as an effort by the party president to buy peace with Narendra Modi.

"Joshi, who was an invitee member of the National Executive, has in a letter to party president Nitin Gadkari said that he is relinquishing his post in the larger interest of the party," BJP sources said hours before the inauguration of the two day conclave.

The move by Gadkari is significant as the shadow of Modi could have hung over the conclave as speculation had mounted over the Gujarat strongman's absence amid no official word from Gandhinagar.

Modi had also not attended the last meeting of the National Executive held in Delhi in December apparently peeved over the induction of Joshi into Uttar Pradesh election campaign by Gadkari. He had also not campaigned in the UP polls.

As per official programme, Modi will be in Udaipur in Rajasthan on Thursday to attend the birth centenary celebrations of Maharana Pratap and will be returning to Ahmedabad. As per his associates in Gandhinagar, Modi could make it to Mumbai on Friday in view of the development.

The Executive meeting is significant as it would be the first major gathering of the BJP top brass ahead of the Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the two party-ruled states, scheduled by the year-end

The talk in BJP circles is that Modi had threatened to resign from the National Executive if Joshi was retained in the body where he is an invitee member.

Gadkari did not want to give any handle for Modi to stay away from the Mumbai meet, which is expected to pass a resolution seeking a change in BJP constitution giving a consecutive three year term to the party chief, sources said.

After a gap of six years, Joshi, who has been a former party general secretary, was asked by Gadkari to assist the party in the UP assembly polls.

In 2005, he was forced to resign following a controversy over a CD purportedly showing him in poor light. This decision had not gone down well with Modi who has never seen Joshi eye-to-eye.

Modi had all these years stiffly resisted moves to bring back Joshi, who was a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) 'pracharak' nominee in the party in the position of general secretary (organisation).