The Democratic Party of Japan's former leader Ichiro Ozawa submitted resignation letter on Monday with 51 party members of the ruling party in a move to oppose a sales tax hike bill.

The ruling party and the major opposition parties voted on a bill in late June to double the nation's sales tax rate by October 2015. But Ozawa and those democrats close to him rebelled in the vote.

The powerful politician had been reportedly encouraging party members close to him to join him in forming a new party. Monday's version of The Daily Yomiuri, a popular paper, reported that Ozawa aimed to seize power after the next lower house election by building a loose coalition with other small and regional political parties.

Though Ozawa's move will deal a blow to the DPJ, it is still able to hold a majority at the powerful lower house after the group quit. Observers forecast that Ozawa would led the group to submit no-confidence motion against Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's Cabinet.