Amar Singh joins Rashtriya Lok Dal

Former General Secretary of the Samajwadi Party and an independent member in the Rajya Sabha, Amar Singh, has joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal, a party led by the Civil Aviation Minister, Ajit Singh.

Amar Singh, who was expelled from the SP in 2010, will contest from Fatehpur. His close confidante and actor-turned-MP from Rampur, Jaya Prada, will fight as RLD candidate from Bijnore.

Speculations rife Since 2010, there were speculations on Amar Singh’s next political move. Rashtriya Lok Manch, a political platform created by him, failed to make any significant ground in the Uttar Pradesh elections held in 2012. Singh and Jaya Prada have been supporting the Congress in Parliament on various Bills and issues such as the FDI in retail. He had publicly declared his wish to join the Congress, but the party was not in favour to admit him into their fold.

RLD, however, is an ally of the Congress. He apologised to the Congress President, Sonia Gandhi, for making adverse comments against her when he was the spokesperson of the Samajwadi Party.

Endorsing RLD’s stated position to divide Uttar Pradesh into smaller States, Amar Singh said both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have been turning a deaf ear to this demand.

“I realised that development of UP cannot be done without its bifurcation. Ajit Singh has always supported the formation of Harit Pradesh, which is very important. The kind of clarity that Ajit Singh has about creation of States such as Poorvanchal, Bundelkhand and Harit Pradesh is lacking in leaders of major parties,” Singh told reporters after joining the RLD.

Amar Singh, always a man of controversies, had warned the political class against hurling allegations each other.

During a discussion on the Lokpal Bill in Rajya Sabha, he remembered his two-and-a-half month stay in the Tihar jail for his role in the cash-for-vote scam and said unless the politicians stand together, people with vested interests will come to responsible positions.

Taking on his mentor Mulayam Singh Yadav, Singh said on Monday that he has come in search of Mulayam Singh’s roots. “It is from this same house that Mulayam Singh started his politics and Chaudhary (Charan Singh) sahab promoted Mulayam Singh like his foster son,” Amar Singh said.