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LEAD: Ex-state minister Watanabe leaves LDP+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) TOKYO, Jan. 13_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: UPDATING) Former administrative reform minister Yoshimi Watanabe submitted a letter Tuesday to the Liberal Democratic Party saying he will leave the ruling party, expressing his opposition to Prime Minister Taro Aso's policies. Watanabe, 56, is expected to either cast a ballot opposing or abstain from voting on a second supplementary budget for fiscal 2008 at the House of Representatives later in the day. The extra budget includes a 2 trillion yen cash handout program, which Watanabe opposes. Watanabe suggested on a TV program Tuesday that he made the decision because Aso, also LDP president, remains reluctant to regulate "amakudari" post-retirement jobs for senior bureaucrats. Watanabe showed willingness to establish a new party with other lawmakers and municipal leaders. On another TV program, Watanabe urged Aso to step down because the public is alienated from his administration. Watanabe had declared he would leave the party unless his demands, including soon calling a lower house election and canceling the controversial 2 trillion yen cash handout, are seriously considered. Watanabe, serving his fourth lower house term, assumed his ministerial post in December 2006 under then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Copyright ? 2009 Kyodo News International, Inc. |