'BJP should have shown grace to Advaniji'

'They should have offered a ticket for his constituency to Advaniji's daughter Pratibha or son Jayant. But, of course, that is too much to expect.'

The irrepressible Shatrughan Sinha may have lost the Patna Saheb seat to Ravi Shankar Prasad.

But is he sulking about it? Far from it!

Sinha says the move was long due.

"The only reason why I stayed on in the BJP in spite of repeated snubs is because of my loyalty," Sinha tells Subhash K Jha. "I had vowed I'd not move until I was told to. The time to make the move is now."

Sinha says he is very happy to go. "Or perhaps, 'go' is not the right word. The situation may change. The BJP is fielding a dear friend of mine Ravi Shankar Prasad in my place from my constituency. But I will be contesting the election from my constituency only," he says.

"Thanks to the love and support of the Bihar janata for years, I've always emerged victorious from there. Now we will know whom the public voted for -- the party or me. By the grace of God, I will win again from Patna," he adds.

"You can take away my seat, but you can't take away the love of my people from me," says Sinha. "Having said that, I must say I have no ill will towards Ravi Shankar Prasad. He is an old friend. And I wish him all the best. May the best man win."

While bidding adieu to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Sinha reveals how he has suffered in silence as the current party high command disrespected senior BJP leaders.

"Look at how they behaved with the very respected Mr Yashwant Sinha. Virtually pushed him out of the party. And now L K Advaniji who was sidelined for years has retired from elections at the same time when I've finally moved out of the BJP," he says.

"The party could have shown some grace towards the great leader by offering a ticket for his electoral constituency to Advaniji's daughter Pratibha or son Jayant. But, of course, that is too much to expect."

Sinha refuses to divulge the political party he is joining, but whispers suggest he has been chosen by the Congress.

"Let the heat and dust settle down. In a few days you will know. At the moment I want to thank all the leaders of the Opposition -- Mamta Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal -- and my family friend Laloo Yadav for standing by me."