Yashwant Sinha, Shatrughan accuse BJP of 'lip service' on Hazare issue, offer to quit

NEW DELHI: Accusing the party of not taking up seriously enough the issue of corruption, three BJP leaders including Yashwant Sinha today offered to quit as Members of Parliament.

Besides Yashwant Sinha, Shatrughan Sinha and Uday Singh, MPs from Patnsaheb and Purnea respectively, sprung a surprise at the BJP Parliamentary Party meeting here to discuss the strategy for the ongoing session as also the all party meeting on the Lokpal issue convened today.

Yashwant Sinha said that the BJP had been unable to take a strong stand on the Lokpal issue which was necessary to "take the battle forward" against corruption.

The former Finance Minister and Hazaribagh MP made the surprise move at the meeting chaired by L K Advani here, which expressed concern over the health of Anna Hazare and made an appeal to the Gandhian to end his fast.

Shatrughan Sinha said the BJP, instead of taking a clear cut stand, had been paying "lip service" on the Hazare issue and using the Congress as a punching bag.

Senior BJP leader S S Ahluwalia, however, sought to downplay questions about Yashwant's offer to resign saying different voices are heard in such meetings and it is the final resolution that actually matters.