NEW DELHI: Former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha said today he's quitting the BJP because the NDA, which it leads, is undermining democratic institutions."Today I am taking 'sanyas' from any kind of party politics, today I am ending all ties with the BJP," Sinha said at an event in Patna.
In 2014, after Prime Minister Modi's whopping victory, Yashwant Sinha was marginalised along with senior leaders including LK Advani, seen as punishment for opposing Mr Modi being named their party's presumptive prime minister. Mr Sinha's son, Jayant Sinha, is a minister in PM Modi's government.
Yashwant Sinha had held the Finance and External Affairs portfolios in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet between 1998 and 2004.Sinha, who has been at loggerheads with the party leadership for quite some time, alleged that democracy was under threat under the present government.
Leaders of the AAP, the Samajwadi Party, the Trinamool Congress, the Rashtriya Lok Dal were also present at the event.