Didn't decide to leave BJP overnight, party had turned autocratic: Shatrughan Sinha

New Delhi, Apr 6: Congress leader Shatrughan Sinha, who recently quit BJP after being in the party for decades, sais the decision to part ways with the saffron party was not taken "overnight". Sinha came down heavily on the current leadership of the BJP and said the party had become "a one-man show and two men army".

The actor-turned-politician launched a scathing attack on the BJP, saying there was no concept of collective decision in the saffron party and he was disowned by the party because of his association with BJP veteran LK Advani.

"I did not take the decision to leave BJP overnight. I've was in the party for 25 years. I saw that this government was a one-man show and two men army, it had turned autocratic," Sinha told ANI.

"Many who deserved were never assigned posts (under BJP govt). I had said I'd never leave BJP, if Party wants it can leave me. Party had threatened me many times but it couldn't take an action maybe due to guilt or shame. So I took a decision (to join Congress)," he added.

The Congress Saturday fielded Sinha as its Lok Sabha poll candidate from the Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar. 72-year-old Sinha, the incumbent MP from the seat, will face senior BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

Earlier, Sinha took to Twitter to say, "It's with a heavy heart and immense pain that I finally bid adieu to my old party, for reasons best known to all of us, on 6th April, which also happens to be the Sansthapna Diwas of BJP. I don't hold any ill will for our people as they were like my family and I was groomed in."

Sinha said he was hopeful of getting 'opportunities' in the Congress to serve people. "This is a party of great nation builders and luminaries like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and many others," he wrote on twitter.

He also praised Congress chief Rahul gandhi for his 'dynamic' leadership. "Under the present President of Congress the very dynamic, able, tried, tested and successful face of today and tomorrow's India, @RahulGandhi, I hope, wish and pray that I'm heading into a better direction," he said.