A veteran Nationalist has called for Nicola Sturgeon to put party interest aside and work with a new pro-independence alliance ahead of next year's Holyrood election.
Jim Sillars, a former SNP depute leader, claimed it would be a "tragedy" if Yes voters split just as support for independence began to rise in the polls.
Sillars spoke out after the Record revealed a former SNP MSP has opened up a major rift in the nationalist movement by saying he will help launch a new independence party.
Dave Thompson will quit the party after 55 years to help launch a new pro-independence outfit for the Holyrood election in 2021.
The SNP veteran predicted the “Alliance for Independence ” (AFI) could win up to 24 seats next year.
In a letter to the Herald, Sillars said Sturgeon must not put the SNP’s “narrow party interest” ahead of the wider independence cause.
He said: “She now has to exercise some wisdom, take off the party hat and put on the movement one.
“The tragedy will be if Ms Sturgeon does not realise that those who form the Alliance have as much right to contribute to strategy and tactics as she.
“The sensible thing now would be to talk to them.”
