Former finance minister Yashwant Sinha quits BJP, says democracy in danger

Former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha, who has been at loggerheads with the party leadership over the past few years, announced on Saturday that he is quitting BJP. The announcement at a meeting of his organisation Rashtra Manch in which leaders of the Congress, the RJD and other opposition parties besides BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha were present."Today I am taking 'sanyas' from any kind of party politics, today I am ending all ties with the BJP," ANI quoted Yashwant Sinha as saying.Sinha said democratic institutions were being undermined under the NDA regime and vowed to work for the protection of democracy in the country.Leaders of the AAP, the Samajwadi Party, the Trinamool Congress, the Rashtriya Lok Dal are also attending the meeting in Patna.Yashwant Sinha was external affairs minister under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee ( 2002-04) and finance minister in the same government from 1998-2002 . His son Jayant Sinha is the minister of State for Civil Aviation in Narendra Modi's cabinet.The 80-year-old leader, who has been languishing in the sidelines since Modi took over as prime minister in 2014, stepped up his attack on the Centre in recent months, launching a political action group called the 'Rashtra Manch'.

from The Economic Times https://ift.tt/2JZ6XxD