Apologise and resign from party: Telangana BJP tells Yashwant, Shatrughan Sinha

HYDERABAD: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders are voicing their opposition to the launch of 'Rashtra Manch', the political platform launched by senior party leader Yashwant Sinha against the policies of the Central government. Telangana unit of the BJP on Wednesday hit out at Yashwant Sinha saying that he had "crossed all the limits" and should quit the BJP.

Not just Yashwant Sinha, Shatrughan Singh, who was also present at the launch of the political front, faced the wrath of the Telangana BJP.

"Being senior leaders, the party does not want to take any disciplinary action against them, but it's bearing on them to resign from the party and do what they want to do," Telangana BJP spokesperson Krishna Saagar Rao said.

"We believe Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha are a spent force. The BJP will not have any issue with what they will do after they leave the BJP," he said.

Rao also added that Shatrughan Sinha, elected to the Lok Sabha on a BJP ticket, should have resigned by now. "They neither have any role in the party, nor anybody in the country follows them," he said

He alleged that the two leaders wanted to defeat the BJP in most of the elections -- from Bihar to Gujarat Assembly polls. "It's a betrayal. They should actually apologise to the BJP and then resign from the party. I don't think they have any equity in this democracy. Their attempts to embarrass us (BJP) are not yielding any results in the last three years," Rao said.

Being in the party and trying to sabotage its prospects is "unethical", he said adding that "the BJP will not stoop to their level of conduct to expel them or initiate action." 

Rao comments came a day after Yashwant Sinha launched a political platform that was joined by a number of politicians led by BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha. The new political platform seeks to take on the Centre and will start a movement against its policies, the former Union finance minister had said.

Shatrughan Sinha said he joined the platform as he had not been given a forum in the party for expressing his views, but added that his decision to back the front should not be seen as an anti-party activity as it was in national interest.