In a dramatic turn around, popular TV actress Smriti 'Tulsi' Irani on Sunday first demanded Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's resignation but retracted within hours.

Sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the turnaround came after general secretary Pramod Mahajan spoke to Irani and persuaded her to withdraw the demand.

Irani also told Mahajan that the demand for Modi's resignation was not a precursor to her leaving the BJP for the Congress, as was being whispered in some quarters.

It was not immediately clear what prompted Irani to make the demand or to withdraw it.

Sunday's dramatic developments began in the diamond town of Surat in Gujarat where Irani said Modi should step down. She reiterated the same demand in Mumbai, where she backtracked.

"Modi has sullied the image of the party that was built by great leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpyee and Lal Krishna Advani," she told reporters in Surat, 220 km from Gujarat capital Gandhinagar, announcing a fast unto death to press her demand.

She was responding to questions from the media after attending the inauguration of a jewellery shop.

Irani, who unsuccessfully contested from Delhi's Muslim-dominated Chandni Chowk constituency in the general election, said she would begin the fast on Dec 25, the birthday of BJP leader and former prime minister Vajpayee. Blaming Modi for the BJP's electoral reverses and the 2002 sectarian violence in Gujarat in which about 1,000 people were killed, she said she expected Modi to "step down on his own, but he didn't."

Modi is in Australia to promote "Vibrant Gujarat", the global investors' conference to be held next month.

A senior BJP leader in Delhi said her protest would not have the party's support and accused her of raising the issue to induce the party into taking disciplinary action against her so that she can crossover to the other side (Congress).

"She is planning her exit from the party to the other side (Congress)," said the BJP leader, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The BJP's state leadership ignored Irani's outburst.

"It is surprising in a way that she finds fault with Modi only now. In any case, we do not need to react to her statement when the people of Gujarat have democratically re-elected Modi," a senior leader said.

Asked by a television channel if she had the permission of senior BJP leaders for her move, Irani said: "Why do you think you need permission to do what you think is right. BJP is a democratic party."

She denied that her action amounted to indiscipline and said she was not instigating party workers to join her in the fast.