Patna: After criticising and protesting against the BJP’s top leadership for months, Yashwant Sinha on Saturday finally announced his decision to leave the party to work towards “saving democracy in the country”.
“I have had a long association with the BJP. Today I am severing my ties with it,” the 80-year-old disgruntled BJP leader said at an event organised under the banner of his Rashtriya Manch, a political front formed to highlight the failures of the BJP government at the Centre.
A battery of Opposition leaders, including Congress MP Renuka Chaudhary, Lalu Prasad Yadav’s son Tejashwi Yadav, TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi, RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary and Sanjay Singh from Aam Aadmi Party were present on the dais when Mr Sinha made the announcement.
However, he made it clear that he would not join any other political party.
“Four years ago I had decided to separate myself from electoral politics, but now I have decided to quit BJP. I am not going to join any other political party, but have decided to launch a countrywide movement to preserve democracy that has been under threat for several years,” he said.
Shatrughan Sinha, BJP MP from Patna Sahib, was also present.
