Shimla, March 27 -- A former BJP minister in Himachal today resigned as rebellion erupted in the party rank and file after the top leadership fielded all six disqualified Congress legislators for the June 1 Assembly byelections. The moment the BJP's list of candidates for the Assembly byelections was released today, party leaders vented anger against the move to field the six Congress rebels who had recently joined the saffron party.Anticipating such a reaction, the party top brass had deputed senior leaders to accompany the six nominees - Sudhir Sharma (Dharamsala), Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chaitanya Sharma (Gagret) and Devender Bhutto (Kutlehar) - to their segments.

The BJP le...