Hours after former Union minister Yashwant Sinha quit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), his ex-party colleague Shatrughan Sinha has clarified that he will stay in the BJP only and will not join Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
Hours after former Union minister Yashwant Sinha quit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), his ex-party colleague Shatrughan Sinha has clarified that he will stay in the BJP only and will not join Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).
"There were rumours that I would quit the party because I had not been given the ticket. But, I am clarifying it today that I am here to stay and I am not going to go anywhere," said actor-turned-politician Sinha, who has criticised top BJP leadership and its decisions on multiple occasions, on Saturday.
Reacting to this, Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi, in a thinly-veiled jibe urged all Shatru (enemies) of BJP should quit the party.
He wrote on Twitter: “Without waiting for expulsion all ‘Shatru’ of BJP shud also quit following footsteps of their mentor.”
The speculations triggered after Sinha on Friday described jailed RJD supremo Lalu Prasad as his "best friend".
Sinha recently met Lalu Prasad's wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi and his younger son Tejashwi Yadav.
Earlier, the BJP leader met jailed Lalu in a Ranchi hospital where the latter was admitted last month.
The BJP said that it was not surprised by former Union minister Yashwant Sinha's announcement of quitting the party, saying his comments and writings made it clear that he was no longer in the organisation and was acting at the Congress' behest.
"It was clear from his comments and writing that he was no longer in the BJP. The party gave him a lot of respect and important positions but his conduct has been improper. "His comments sounded more like that of a Congress leader or somebody working at the behest of the opposition party," BJP spokesperson and national media head Anil Baluni said.
The party is not surprised by Sinha's announcement, he said.
80-year-old Sinha today said in Patna that he was quitting the BJP and would no longer be a part of party politics.
Sinha held finance finance and external affairs portfolios in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government but was sidelined after Narendra Modi and Amit Shah came at the helm.
He has been publicly opposing the Modi government's economic policies and style of functioning.
In a newspaper article, Sinha had criticised Arun Jaitley over what he called the mess the finance minister has made of the economy after which Jaitley hit back calling him "a job applicant at 80 years" who has forgotten his record as finance minister.
In a no-holds barred attack, Sinha had also said that demonetisation had proved to be an unmitigated economic disaster and that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was badly conceived and poorly implemented. He had also deprecated the Centre's handling of Kashmir.
Everybody in the BJP is living in fear. We are not, Sinha had said while "Rashtriya Manch" (National Forum) on January 30 as an "apolitical forum" to highlight the alleged"anti-people" policies of the Centre.
Sinha today alleged that democracy was "under threat" under the present government and that he would launch a strong movement to "save democracy" in the country.
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