Modi thinks leaders above 75 yrs are brain dead: Yashwant Sinha

In an apparent swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sidelining veteran BJP leaders including himself by setting the cut-off age for ministers at 75, senior party leader Yashwant Sinha said, “All those who are above the age of 75 were declared brain dead on May 26, 2014.“Sinha, who held finance and external affairs portfolios in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Chandra Shekhar governments, made the comment at an event on Tuesday where he was asked how the Modi and Manmohan Singh dispensations differed.Sinha also targeted Modi over his pet Make in India initiative, saying, “Make India first, and the rest will follow. I am among those brain dead.“ His son Jayant is Union Minister of State for Finance. The octogenarian leader from Jharkhand is among top BJP leaders like L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi, who have been sulking after not been inducted into the Modi government.Advani and Joshi have been made members of BJP’s Margdarshak Mandal to mentor the party. Joshi had recently targeted Modi’s `Namami Gange’ project for cleaning the Ganga, claiming it will never be successful.Recently, Shatrughan Sinha, who had also served as Union minister under Vajpayee, insisted on “merit and mental alertness“ being the criteria for choosing ministers.