Rules are for selective leaders in BJP: Yashwant Sinha

Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday said there was a party rule earlier that no one will get a Rajya Sabha ticket for more than two terms, but now this rule is implemented only on selective leaders.

"There was a rule in the party that no third term will be given to any leader in the Rajya Sabha. This rule is still being followed in Left parties but not in the BJP and some selected leaders are given more than two terms. I will not take names of any particular leader," Yashwant Sinha said here at the launch of a book "Anything But Khamosh: The Shatrughan Sinha Biography".

He was speaking about why BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha was not allowed a third term to the Rajya Sabha by BJP veteran L.K. Advani.

"We still feel that this rule was implemented on Shatrughan Sinha but not on others," he said.

The former external affairs minister also said the managers of the Bihar assembly polls did not feel their necessity, otherwise the result would have been different.

"Those who were managing the polls did not feel our necessity. We would have only added to the votes of the party. It might have added 10 votes in Shatrughan Sinha's name and two in my name," he said.

Advani, on the occasion, regretted not allowing a third Rajya Sabha term to Shatrughan Sinha.

"It is my duty to publicly apologise for him. I was rather unfair," said Advani, who released the book written by journalist Bharathi S. Pradhan and published by Om Books International.

He said that at that time, there was rule in the BJP to give only two Rajya Sabha terms to any leader.

He opposed his third term because he felt Shatrughan Sinha was very popular and was capable of winning the Lok Sabha election.

Shatrughan Sinha said that now he feel happy about that decision, because of which he fought the Lok Sabha polls and won.

He also said he wants to move forward, forgetting the instances of the past.

"Now I want to move forward. Forget the past. Chodo kal ki baaten, kal ki baat purani, naye daur me likhenge milkar nai kahani (Forget things of the past. Look to the future)," he said.

Besides the three leaders, union ministers Harsh Vardhan and V.K. Singh, Congress leaders Digvijaya Singh and Randeep Singh Surjewala, BJP MP Kirti Azad and former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh were also present.

Shatrughan Sinha's family members, including daughter and Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha, as well as comedian Raju Srivastava were also present.