Yashwant Sinha quits BJP, will work to save democracy'
Mr Sinha, however, made it clear that he would not join any other political party.
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 the BJP,” 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 AAP were present on the dais when Mr Sinha, a former Union minister in the Atal Behari Vajpayee government, made the announcement.
Mr Sinha, however, 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 which has been under threat since last several years,” Mr Sinha said.
Shatrughan Sinha, BJP MP from Patna Sahib, was also present at the event.
In a no-holds-barred attack on demonetisations, Mr Sinha had written an editorial article calling it an “unmitigated economic disaster”, triggering a political storm.
During his speech on Saturday, Mr Sinha slammed the government for influencing the investigating agencies and the Election Commission.
“Today my heart beats for my country as I strongly feel that democracy is under threat. Democratic institutions like Election Commission and investigating agencies have started functioning under the pressure of the government which is not right”, he said.
A bureaucrat-turned politician, Mr Sinha joined the BJP in the Nineties and was appointed finance minister in 1998 when Atal Behari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister.