Fuji TV reported this morning that it has learned that Lower House member Kazunori Yamanoi, deputy chair of the Democratic Party for the People’s Diet Affairs Committee, is planning to leave the party and become an independent and that he will submit his resignation in early June. The network pointed out that it is very unusual for a senior Diet affairs official to resign while the Diet is in session and that his resignation is expected to deal a heavy blow to the DPFP, whose support rating is sagging.