Veteran BJP leader Yashwant Sinha quits BJP, says democracy is under threat

Veteran BJP leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha on Saturday quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He made the announcement at the opposition rally at Patna. The leader said democracy is under threat and slammed the Modi-led NDA government.

Of late, Sinha has been repeatedly firing salvos at the Centre.

“I have remained in the NDA government. When Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the PM we were told that Parliament should function at all costs. Did the current PM even try to reach out to the opposition parties to resolve the impasse? In fact, the government was happy that Parliament was not functioning because there was a no-confidence motion against it," he said.

“I don’t want



to cast assertions on the conduct of the Speaker (Sumitra Mahajan) but when she said she could not count whether 50 members favoured the no-confidence motion it was the biggest joke on democracy," he said.

Lashing out at the Narendra Modi government, he said he did not want to be part of any party politics.

Sinha said he would not join any political party but be part of a group to save Indian democracy.

Sinha who quit electoral politics in 2014 had been the most vocal critic of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

It remains to be seen whether he will be followed by other sidelined leaders of the party. Among those who have openly supported Yashwant Sinha is actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha.