Lucknow, Jan 26 (IANS) Caught in controversy over his alleged praise for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Deoband Islamic seminary's vice chancellor Maulana Mohammad Ghulam Vastanvi Tuesday offered to step down from the position he had been appointed to barely a few weeks back.

According to a Darul Uloom source, Maulana Vastanvi has tendered his resignation, which would be placed before the institution's governing council 'Majlis-e-Shoora' Feb 15, adding that the final decision would be taken then.

The move followed daylong demonstrations and chaos all over Darul Uloom campus, where groups of students and the faculty entered into a free-for-all. While a large chunk of students were unrelenting on their demand for the ouster of the vice chancellor, whom they were unwilling to pardon for praising Modi, another group stood up in support of Vastanvi.

Claiming that the vice chancellor's remarks about the Gujarat chief minister had been "distorted and twisted" by the media, members of the pro-Vastanvi alleged the tirade against the vice chancellor was motivated by certain vested interests.

The anti-Vastanvi group staged a sit-in demonstration raising slogans of "Modi-Nawaz VC waapas jao" (Modi admiring VC go back). They have resolved to continue their agitation until the vice chancellor leaves the campus.