His letter to party president Rajnath Singh on accountability was leaked and led to his sidelining. But senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha is confident that there’s always a second innings. In this interaction with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta on NDTV 24x7’s Walk the Talk, Sinha says that even though he does not feel victimised, a little more fairness in the party would go a long way in keeping everybody satisfied

•Shekhar Gupta: My guest this week is somebody you have seen sort of angry lately. Yashwant Sinha, welcome to Walk the Talk.

Yashwant Sinha: Thank you.

•Shekhar Gupta: Yashwant Sinha ko gussa kyun aata hai?

Yashwant Sinha: Yashwant Sinha ko gussa nahin aata hai. Yashwant Sinha is a very cool person.

•Shekhar Gupta: What’s been engaging your mind the last two months?

Yashwant Sinha: It’s not only the last two months; it is the last many months. I left Delhi on January 1 and campaigned in my constituency for three-and-a-half months. It’s a very tough constituency. There’s nothing going for me. I won it in 1998 and 1999. I thought it was very easy until I lost in 2004. This time, I didn’t want to take any chances because I knew that a second defeat would put an end to my political career and even if nobody asks me to quit, I would have to quit myself. My hard work paid off. For 100 days, every morning I used to go out into the constituency, meet people in the villages, in the towns, and the coal field area. It was a single-minded focus on elections. My election was held on the very first day. Then I came back and was told by the party that I should be travelling to some state capitals and meeting the media in Delhi. Mr Advani called me from Bangalore and said, ‘Yashwantji, please take up some economic issue and meet the press’. I started going to other places, talked on economic issues and price rise, and tried to do my best for the party. The results were declared on May 16. I won, but we lost. My personal victory was not enough to lift my spirits and I thought there would be a lot of activity here. We will sit down to review the defeat. But that wasn’t happening. I was disappointed. I waited until we were called to a meeting of the newly elected parliamentarians on May 31. That meeting again was somewhat casual, in a light hearted manner...

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