Not running after post, says Sinha

NEW DELHI: Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha on Monday hit out at his critics within BJP by maintaining that he was not a hawai neta (rootless leader), but a grassroots politician who was not running after any post.

Mr Sinha, who had resigned from all organisational posts held by him in the party on June 12 in protest against the leadership���s dogged refusal to conduct a post-mortem into the party���s defeat in the Lok Sabha polls and fix responsibility, had, along with former Union minister Jaswant Singh and Arun Shourie, came in for a lot of flak from a cross-section of members during the BJP���s national executive meet, which concluded here on Sunday. A day later, he responded to the charge that he was a lightweight, and said that he proved his credentials by winning the Lok Sabha polls from his constituency of Hazaribagh.

���Yashwant Sinha was never so small and will never be so small as to run after a post,��� Mr Sinha, who returned to the Capital on Monday, told newspersons. Taking a dig at his rivals within BJP, who had dismissed his campaign as emanating from a hawai neta, the former Union minister said he could manage a crowd of 10,000 anytime in the national Capital.The senior BJP leader reiterated that he���d continue to work towards strengthening the party organisation, and had never breached discipline. He denied that he had leaked his resignation letter to the media.

���If somebody says I have leaked it, I will protest,������ he said. ``In fact, I got to know about acceptance of my resignation through the media. I did not receive any communication from the party in writing...I had sent it for that (for acceptance),������ he added.

The former Union minister said at the same time that it was very difficult to withhold any information from the media, and cited the case of the proceedings of the party���s national executive finding their way to the newspapers to drive home his point.