Fissures deepen in BJP as Yashwant Sinha quits party posts

Sinha, who was the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha before getting elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand, vented his frustration in an open letter, saying there was a need for redefine the party's ideology and sync it with the current times.

Venting his ire, Sinha, resigned as the vice president of the party on Saturday and relinquished all other posts and demanded that all its office bearers including in the parliamentary party also quit to jointly share the responsibility for the electoral defeat.

In an open letter, Sinha, who served as the External Affairs Minister during the NDA regime, said he was extremely upset over the party's "reluctance to introspect and introspect comprehensively and openly," which he said was "unacceptable" to a larger number of people within the organization.

"So is the rat race for posts. If we are a party with a difference, let us set an example in abnegation. If the responsibility is collective, as I have often heard you say, then all of us should jointly share the responsibility for our defeat," Sinha said in the letter.

Sinha's outburst shows that the voices of dissension in BJP are growing though the party president imposed a virtual gag order today on party leaders from talking to media on party matters, formally or informally.