FILE: Former President APJ Abdul Kalam (Associated Press photo)
APJ Abdul Kalam's nephew Haja Syed Ibrahim has quit the ruling BJP, reportedly because he is upset that the government had allotted the former president's bungalow to a minister instead of making it a memorial.
Mr Ibrahim joined the BJP in 2012. He was appointed as a state vice president for the BJP's minority wing.
He has now walked out, saying that the BJP had "failed to fulfill the overall demand of the people of India."
Dr Kalam's two-storey bungalow at 10, Rajaji Marg has been allotted to Mahesh Sharma, the junior culture minister who had controversially described the People's President as a "nationalist and humanist despite being a Muslim."
The government has justified the allotment, saying Mr Sharma was the only minister who had not got a bungalow since the BJP government took power last year.
In his letter to the party, Mr Ibrahim said: "Our family and the Indian public requested the government to convert the house in Delhi where Dr Kalam lived to a National Knowledge Centre."
He said the purpose of this Centre would be for "students and youngsters to learn and to know the farsighted vision of Dr.A.P.J Abdul Kalam." But the government, he said, rejected the request.
"The ruling party in the central which I took part in serving the public failed to fulfill the overall demand of the people of India. This act of BJP Government is disheartening to the public," said Mr Ibrahim, announcing that he was forced to quit the party by supporters of his uncle's vision.