Former Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh is all set to return ‘home’, six years after his expulsion from the party in January 2010. Former Rampur MP, Jayaprada will also be admitted into the party along with Singh.
Samajwadi Party sources said that the reinduction of Singh into the party is now a fait accompli and he is likely to enter the Rajya Sabha as an Independent candidate supported by the Samajwadi Party. As many as 10 Rajya Sabha members from UP are retiring on July 4. As per the SP’s present strength in the UP Assembly, it can get six members elected on first preference vote. Singh has been a Rajya Sabha MP of SP for three terms.
Sources said that dismissing vehement opposition to his entry by Azam Khan and SP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP, Ram Gopal Yadav, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav approved the proposal. Sources said that to keep Singh free from the shackles of the party line and whip in Rajya Sabha, the SP has decided to support him as an Independent candidate.
Entry of Amar Singh into the Samajwadi Party has been a matter of intense speculation within the party for nearly two years. Since October 2015, his entry was rumoured after he attended a party meeting at Janeshwar Mishra Park in lucknow. Sources also said that what tilted the scale in Singh’s favour is the impending Assembly election in UP. They also claimed that PWD minister Shivpal Singh played a key role in the `home coming’ of Amar Singh.
Sources said that Shivpal Singh Yadav wants to bolster the campaign machinery of the party before the polls as the party can no longer bank solely on party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Sources said that with this in mind, Shivpal Yadav vigorously pursued the unity of Janata Parivar so that the party could eclipse the onslaught of BJP led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The SP government is also likely to recommend to the Centre for a Z plus security cover to the wily Thakur leader. The security accorded to Singh was withdrawn in May 2008, during the regime of Mayawati in UP. Singh has already demonstrated his clout in Samajwadi Party by getting his two nominees, Balwant Singh Ramuwalia as cabinet minister and Madan Chauhan as a minister of state.