New Delhi, March 13 :    New Delhi, March 13:  After protesting innocence through the day since the tehelka.com tapes revealed he had accepted Rs 1 lakh as 'bribe', BJP chief Bangaru Laxman resigned late tonight. Earlier in the day, Laxman had said the money he took from the dotcom reporters posing as arms dealers was 'actually meant as party fund'. A rattled Laxman, who reluctantly met the media at his residence, said: 'He (the reporter) did not come as an arms dealer. They said they are traders, and so many traders and businessmen come. They paid the money saying it was for party fund.' He added: 'The videotape also says it was party fund. I took it and gave the money to the treasurer (Ved Prakash Goyal).' However, the transcript of the tapes says the money was meant as a 'New Year gift'. The reporter says: 'I have Rs 5 lakh. And today I will give you Rs 1 lakh. For just the beginning. A New Year gift. It's a small gift for the New Year party. Right?' At this point, Laxman accepts the money and tucks it away in his table drawer. The reporter asks the BJP president if the next tranche of payment should be made in rupees or dollars, to which Laxman's prompt answer was: 'Dollars. You can give me dollars.' Asked what he would with dollars, he retorted: 'What can I do with dollars?' It appeared that Laxman had to quit under pressure from the party as no senior leader had come out in his support. The resignation represented a complete reversal from the position he had taken earlier when he said: 'Why should I resign when my conscience is clear?' He had alleged that the expose was a 'motivated political conspiracy' to undermine his position as a Dalit leader. 'The Congress party is present all over in the media. A Dalit president is coming up and they want to get him finished off,' he said. He dismissed the suggestion that the West End International scam would have far-reaching ramifications for either the BJP or the Centre. 'They (the Opposition) are not getting anything against this government, they have no issues. The political storm will continue for just a few days.' It has just claimed its first victim in the BJP president himself. Indications that such assertions may not save his scalp were evident in BJP leaders admitting in private that the leadership would have to take a 'serious view' of the evidence in the videotapes and then consider if he should continue to head the party. Apart from accepting the payment, the transcript also quotes Laxman's secretary, Satyamurthy, as saying he was involved in the Sukhoi fighter aircraft deal and had five or six overseas accounts. 'Because after P.V. Narasimha Rao he is the only South Indian who is involved in this... And this kind of deals in India only South Indians can do. Nobody else can do,' Satyamurthy says. The only semblance of a defence for the BJP chief was put up by party vice-president and spokesman Jana Krishnamurthy who, however, made it clear he had not seen the video recording nor had he read the transcript. 'The impression I gain is somebody has deliberately planned to sensationalise a non-existent scandal using modern techniques. There is no basis, proof or evidence adduced to substantiate the allegation,' he said.