On Tuesday (July 26), former TMC leader Yashwant Sinha snubbed the Mamata Banerjee-led party and announced that he has no intentions of joining any political party.
The development comes days after Sinha lost out to Draupadi Murmu in the 2022 Presidential elections. While dismissing all ‘rumours’ about joining hands with the TMC, the 84-year-old vowed to remain independent.
He told PTI, “I will remain independent and will not join any other party…Nobody has spoken to me; I have not spoken to anyone. Yashwant Sinha, however, informed that he was in touch with a TMC leader in a personal capacity.
Unsure about his political journey ahead, he said, “I have to see what role I will play (in public life), how active I will be. I am 84 now, so these are issues; I have to see how long I can carry on.”
In June this year, he resigned from the Trinamool Congress to fight the Presidential elections. He said, “I am grateful to Mamataji for the honour and prestige she bestowed on me in the TMC.”
“Now a time has come when for a larger national cause I must step aside from the party to work for greater opposition unity. I am sure she approves of the step,” Sinha had tweeted.
The 84-year-old had earlier served as a Union Minister under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led-BJP government. He quit the party in 2018 and defected to the TMC ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Vidhan Sabha polls.
The political turncoat had earlier tried to rationalise his decision of switching parties. He claimed that there used to be politics of consensus during the Vajpayee era while it has been confined to conflict during the tenure of PM Narendra Modi.