New Delhi, Nov. 11 :    New Delhi, Nov. 11:  Minister of state for defence Harin Pathak, charged in a case of rioting in which a policeman was killed, resigned tonight, helping the Centre avert a confrontation but arming the Opposition with a potential weapon to target L.K.Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. Pathak, along with fellow-accused and Gujarat minister Ashok Bhatt, had pleaded innocence in the evening but put in his papers after meeting Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee late in the night. Bhatt is expected to step down tomorrow. The two were chargesheeted in connection with a riot in 1985 during the anti-reservation agitation. The duo said they had been implicated in the first information report as they moved the high court against police atrocities. The law ministry was understood to have informed the Prime Minister earlier that the continuance of a chargesheeted minister was 'untenable', though legally he could remain in power until found guilty. Vajpayee had sought the ministry's opinion immediately after the chargesheets were filed. Sources said experts in the ministry reportedly felt that 'technically' a person could even contest elections until a guilty verdict, but it was 'moral' and 'almost a practice' for the minister concerned to step down on 'his own'. Throughout the day, BJP leaders argued that since it was a 'political case', Pathak need not resign. 'The case against Pathak and Bhatt relates to a political agitation and does not involve public morality as in a corruption case. The same stand was taken in a Babri Masjid demolition case. This aspect cannot be ignored,' a BJP leader said. However, Pathak's resignation is expected to punch a hole in the BJP's rationale for ridiculing demands for the resignation of home minister Advani and human resources development minister Joshi, who have been chargesheeted in the Babri case. The BJP has been staving off the Opposition clamour for the senior leaders' resignation on the ground that the issue was a 'political case' . With the winter session of Parliament a little over a week away, the Opposition is likely to pounce on the issue and renew the demand for the exit of Advani and Joshi.