Thaindian News

Lucknow, Jan 25 (IANS) Disgruntled Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Amar Singh, who recently resigned from all party posts, seems to be heading for troubled waters amid a growing demand for his ouster from the party.
“There is no valid reason for Amar Singh to continue in Samajwadi Party. Apparently, he does not want to lose his Rajya Sabha membership, otherwise he should have marched away himself,” said senior SP leader and former minister Ambika Chaudhary.

Chaudhary was reacting to Singh’s oft repeated remark “I will not leave the party until I am booted out” even as the gulf between Singh and SP chief Mulayam Singh has widened with the latter describing him as a part of history and Singh retorting that he would now try to become a true “Samajwadi” instead of “Mulayamwadi”.

“The kind of things Amar Singh has been doing over the past few days… the manner in which he has been making statements at total divergence with the fundamental policies of the party shows he is out to only damage the party. So, why should he continue as a member of the party?” Chaudhary argued.

Other Samajwadi veterans like Mohan Singh too have taken strong exception to Singh’s speech at a Kshatriya rally in Varanasi last week. In an obvious bid to woo Thakurs in Eastern UP, Singh declared his support for the demand for carving out a state of Purvanchal.

“Any further division of the state is against the fundamental policy of the Samajwadi Party, and anyone attempting to fuel this demand is clearly acting against the interest of the party,” the leader told IANS.

Peeved at Singh’s repeated accusations that the SP chief favours his kin, party general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav feels that Singh was getting too big for his boots.

“All these years, he has been calling the shots in the party simply because the party president allowed him to have his way; it was a pity that the same man was making such wild accusations against the party chief to whom he (Singh) should be indebted for providing him a political platform and an unparalleled status,” remarked Ram Gopal.

Many leaders believe that Singh’s exit is not going to make any difference to the political clout of the Samajwadi Party.

“After all, Amar Singh was never a grassroots man. How can his exit from the party make any difference to the party’s political base?” asked Reoti Raman Singh, SP Lok Sabha member from Allahabad.