Former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha joins Trinamool

Kolkata: Ahead of the assembly elections starting on March 27, former BJP leader and Union Minister Yashwant Sinha has joined the Trinamool Congress. He joined the party office in Kolkata and became a member adding that the "attack on Mamata Banerjee" in Nandigram was his tipping point.

He joined the Trinamool Congress in the presence of Derek O'Brien, Santanu Sen, Sudip Bandopadhyay and Subrata Mukherjee. Yashwant Sinha resigned from the BJP in 2018. He was in charge of finance and external affairs portfolios in Vajpayee's cabinet.

Noting the "difference" between the BJP during Vajpayee's tenure and now, the 83-year-old former minister said, "There is a difference of hell and heaven between Atalji's time of the BJP and now. Atalji believed in cooperation, but today's government believes in crushing and conquering. Atalji made a coalition from every corner of the country, and now, excluding Nitish Kumar's party, every party has quit NDA," as reported by The Indian Express.

"The country is going through a crucial phase. In a democracy, things that we used to give priority to are in crisis now. Important institutions are in crisis, and this is a very serious threat to our democracy. Our farmers are sitting on the roads, but nobody bothers. Even the judicial systems have become weak now," he added.

He has also cast apprehensions regarding the election commission at the press meet today, saying, "I say it with a lot of responsibility that the Election Commission is no longer a neutral body," reports NDTV.