The turmoil in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after its poll debacle deepened Saturday with the resignation from all party posts of former central minister Yashwant Sinha
The turmoil in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after its poll debacle deepened Saturday with the resignation from all party posts of former central minister Yashwant Sinha, who joined a swelling number of senior leaders criticising the manner in which the party was functioning.
Sinha faxed his resignation as party vice president to BJP president Rajnath Singh from Hazaribagh, the constituency in Jharkhand from where he won the Lok Sabha elections this time.
Party spokesperson Shrikant Sharma confirmed that Sinha's resignation had been accepted.
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The veteran leader has resigned from all positions in the party, including as member of the national executive and the party observer for Karnataka, the only south Indian state where the party is in power.
The resignation letter arrived just about the time Rajnath Singh asked leaders to "refrain" from voicing criticism of one another in the public domain and said those breaching the directive would invite "disciplinary action".
He was addressing the media here after senior leaders Jaswant Singh, poll strategists Sudheendra Kulkarni, Arun Jaitley and now Sinha, in thinly veiled references, blamed the top leadership for the poor showing in the Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP won just 116 seats this time, down from 138 in 2004, while its leaders have said publicly that they had expected to get 160.
Rajnath Singh said: "Statements by different leaders in the media have created an impression that the party leadership is in disarray and is not analysing the reasons for defeat. This is far from truth. The BJP leadership stands united...
he BJP chief said "the party leadership should refrain from sharing any view outside the party forum such as media or share any information that might create a negative image of the party."
Failing to adhere to the directive would invite "disciplinary action", he said.
Sinha, who had held finance and external affairs portfolios in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government, refused to speak to mediapersons in Jharkhand on his resignation.
"I do not want to talk about it," he said.
In the past Sinha had attacked Advani over the veteran leader's comments on Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
Rajnath Singh's directive to party leaders came a day after the BJP ruled out any action against veteran leader Jaswant Singh for his criticism of the party in the media.
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