Party veteran LK Advani's sudden resignation from all party positions on Monday followed the weekend elevation of controversial leader Narendra Modi as the man to lead the party's campaign for 2014 elections.
He was immediately removed from all party and state posts and placed in detention until his death during the Cultural Revolution.
This began when a prominent left-wing Christian Democrat was forced to resign from all party posts after it emerged that he was on the payroll of a utility giant, RWE.
He remained party secretary, however, and in 1955 was able to effect the dismissal of Nagy, only to be removed himself by Moscow from all party offices the following year in order to placate the Yugoslav leader Marshal Tito, whom he had offended.
The veteran leader's announcement on 10 June that he was resigning from all party positions therefore came as a surprise.
It was announced earlier this week that Ms Woodward had been suspended from all party activities and that it was looking for another candidate in the constituency.
