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.
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