NEW DELHI: Former Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha said on Saturday that he's quitting the ruling BJP, Indian media reported.
According to the Times of India, Sinha has been at loggerheads with the party leadership in recent years.
"Today I am taking 'sanyas' from any kind of party politics, today I am ending all ties with the BJP," Sinha while addressing the first meeting of Rashtra Manch, founded by him.
Sinha said democratic institutions were being undermined under the NDA regime and vowed to work for the protection of democracy in the country.
He said that though he would work to unite non-BJP parties, he himself would not join any party.
Sinha had formed 'Rashtra Manch' on January 30, saying that it will be an apolitical forum and highlight "anti-people" policies of the Centre.
Indian media, quoting Samajwadi Party spokesman Ghanshyam Tiwaril in Patna, reported that leaders from the Congress, Trinamool Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi, RJD's Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, RLD leader Jayant Choudhary, Aam Aadmi Party's Sanjay Singh and disgruntled JD(U) leader Uday Narayan Choudhary would attend the programme.
