That Nitin Gadkari has become a liability for the Bharatiya Janata Party is a fact perhaps even the party president himself would think twice before contesting these days. What is becoming just as embarrassing for the party as allegations of corruption against Gadkari is the alacrity with which saffron leaders are undoing the image of BJP being an uber-disciplined party, built up painstakingly over the years.

And chipping away at another carefully-built-up aura: the party with a difference.

The latest to join the chorus with a signature tune of ‘Gadwaki hatao, party bachao’ (remove Gadkari, save the party) is senior leader and former Union minister in Vajpayee cabinet Yashwant Sinha.

Sinha, however, is merely lending vocal strength to the chorus, composed by the father-son lawyer duo of Jethmalanis. While Ram Jethmalani, a BJP Rajya Sabha MP, initiated the debate on the need for Gadkari to step down as the party president in the wake of reports of alleged dubious financing of Purti Group, owned by Gadkari, son Mahesh Jethmalani resigned as member of the party’s apex national executive committee in protest.

Joining the bandwagon, Sinha on Tuesday told PTI, "Whether our party president is guilty or not is not the issue today. The issue is that all of us in public life should be beyond reproach.”

The latest inside salvo could not have struck the BJP at a worse time, though, coming as it does merely two days before the winter session of parliament gets under way. Expected to be just as stormy as the monsoon session, which was literally washed away by the BJP’s protests against the coal block allocation scam that found many takers across the country, corruption issues are likely to rock the winter session as well.

Sinha said he was issuing his statement for Gadkari's resignation with a "great deal of sadness and regret and after exhausting the forums available" for him in the party. "I am confident that the issue I am raising has merit and I have faith in the wisdom of the party to be able to deal with this issue,” he said.

"In fact, it is this faith which kept me from issuing this statement earlier. Unfortunately, despite my best effort the party has been unable to take a decision in the matter."

Recalling that he had earlier raised voice against BJP lending support to Anshuman Mishra in the Rajya Sabha elections following allegations of irregularities against Mishra, Sinha said, "The party had heeded my advice then, as I hope it does now. The BJP has always set the highest standard of conduct in the past, which should be followed even now. We were a party with a difference earlier. We must continue to be a party with a difference even today, and in future."

Specifying that he has been "greatly saddened" by the events over the last few weeks, Sinha said, "We have also deeply disappointed those who were looking towards us to fight the mindboggling corruption of the Congress party.”