NEW DELHI - Three government ministers in the southern Indian state of Karnataka resigned Wednesday after they were accused of watching a pornographic video during an assembly session.

The right wing Bharatiya Janata Party, which rules Karnataka, ordered the three ministers to resign after local television channels aired footage Tuesday of the men watching the allegedly pornographic video clip while the state assembly proceedings were going on.

The ministers denied they were watching pornography, but said they were resigning to save their party from embarrassment.

The governor of Karnataka accepted the resignations.

Television footage showed Laxman Savadi, minister for co-operation, watching the video clip on his mobile phone and then passing the phone to C. C. Patil, minister for women and child development.

The mobile phone belonged to the minister for ports, Krishna Palemar, who also resigned.

Soon after television stations aired the footage, outraged residents of Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka, held protests outside the homes of the three ministers, demanding their resignation.

The three men said they were not watching pornography. Savadi said he was watching a video clip of a rave party to prepare for a discussion in the assembly.