Former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana, who resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party in April, announced the launch of his own party on Monday.

Khurana, who had been suspended by the BJP, said that his party will be a 'platform for all mass leaders sidelined' by the BJP.

He has appointed Sangh veteran Rajendra Gupta as president of the newly floated Bharatiya Jan Mahasangh. Delhi legislator Dayanand Chandela has been named the Mahasangh's secretary-general, he said.

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"The Mahasangh -- a non-BJP, non-Congress and non-communist organisation -- will offer a platform to all established BJP leaders who have been sidelined by the party leadership since 1998," Khurana said.

He added that the party would function as a non-political organisation for six months initially and then 'it would take a full-fledged political role, two months ahead of Delhi's municipal elections'.

Also, Khurana announced plans to launch a third front at the national level, primarily to oppose the BJP, in winter. "This Mahasangh in Delhi is a precursor to a third front that will be launched in winter. I am in talks with different non-BJP, non-Congress parties," he said.

Khurana was suspended from the BJP in March for defying party directives against joining former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti's rally in Delhi.