Two days after quitting the Bharatiya Janata Party, former MP Sunil Shastri on Friday launched a new political party.
He accused the BJP of playing "vote bank politics" with farmers, workers and unemployed youth.
Maintaining that the BJP had changed for the worse since 1996, he asked the party leadership to seriously ponder as to why people like him and Bihar leader Sanjay Paswan were leaving.
Named after the famous slogan coined by his late father, Lal Bahadur Shastri, the 'Jai Jai Kisan Mazdoor Congress' would "play an active role in assembly elections in Haryana, Bihar and Jharkhand," Shastri said.
Shastri denied that he resigned because he was not given a party post.
"I have been in politics since 1980, but I have never worked for any post. I have never felt sidelined in the party. I am interested in working for ideology. They promised many things for farmers and unorganised labour, but did not implement them".
"Their concern for the welfare of farmers and others is only on paper. It is wrong to use farmers and unemployed youth for vote bank politics", he said.
Shastri, who quit the Congress to join the BJP in 1998, was also critical of the ruling United Progressive Alliance government.
