Amar Singh rejoins S P, nominated for Rajya Sabha
LUCKNOW: In a political move of far reaching consequences for the Mulayam Singh-led Samajwadi Party, Amar Singh was on Tuesday nominated by the party for Rajya Sabha berth.Singh was amongst one of the seven candidates announced by the SP for the Upper House elections scheduled for next month.
The other names are Beni Prasad Verma, Sanjay Seth, Sukhram Yadav, Vishambhar Prasad Nishad, Arvind Singh and Revti Raman Singh.The decision was apparently taken at SP’s central parliamentary board meeting in Lucknow and was attended by party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, senior ministers Shivpal Yadav and Mohammad Azam Khan.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Kiranmoy Nanda were special invitees, as per media reports. Singh, once close to Mulayam, was expelled from the party ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.Later he had floated his own party and contested UP Assembly elections.
Then he joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and had contested the Lok Sabha polls.On May 13 this month, when Mulayam was asked by reporters about speculation that Singh was likely to join the SP again, he had said that the question had no justification.
Interestingly, SP leader and UP minister Azam Khan, considered to be Singh’s bete noire, had quipped, “never utter such words”.This was at a press conference to announce the rejoining of Congress leader Beni Prasad Verma to SP.
Speculation was rife for sometime now that Singh might rejoin his old party, as he had been seen in SP functions in recent times and was also making frequent visits to residences of Mulayam and Akhilesh.
