Former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, who was the Union Finance Minister in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government, joined the Trinamool Congress in Kolkata on Saturday.
Mr. Sinha joined his new party a little after 12 noon at the Trinamool Bhawan in Kolkata in the presence of Derek O Brien, Sudip Bandopadhyay, and Subrata Mukherjee.
The development comes ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections, scheduled to be held in eight phases from March 27.
Sinha said he decided to join the party after the recent “attack” on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on March 10.
Sinha said he had met Mamata this morning for an hour and talked about many things.
He said the TMC should be strengthened by 2024 to ensure the government at the Centre could change.
Mr. Sinha first became Finance Minister in November 1990 and stayed in office till June 1991, serving under Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar. His second tenure stretched between December 1998 and July 2002 under PM Vajpayee. From then to May 2004, he was India’s Foreign Minister.
A former IAS officer of the 1960 batch, he joined politics in 1984, starting off with the Janata Party after quitting government service. He later joined the BJP.
