By Sharat Pradhan
Lucknow, Jan 6 (IANS) While insiders in the Samajwadi Party are not surprised at Amar Singh’s decision to step down from the most powerful position in the party hierarchy, his detractors see his exit as a good omen for the party.

Be it Beni Prasad Verma, Azam Khan or actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar, all left the party largely on account of the enviable position that party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav cast for Amar Singh in the scheme of things.

Many Samajwadi veterans still in the party may not go on record but they were clearly glad over the “SP’s release from Amar’s clutches”.

“Nothing would move in the party without Amar Singh. Sometimes it seemed that Mulayam would not even have a glass of water without seeking Amar Singh’s nod,” remarked a visibly happy senior functionary of the party who did not wish to be identified.

Former Uttar Pradesh minister Azam Khan, who remained the SP’s most prominent Muslim face until his disgust with Amar Singh led him to march out of the party in 2009, said: “Amar Singh had done great service to the Samajwadi Party by stepping down from the general secretary’s position.”

Talking to IANS from his hometown Rampur, Khan said: “I really hope and pray that he also resigns from the primary membership of the party and returns to the colourful life of the film world that was his appropriate home.”

Khan did not rule out the possibility of Amar Singh joining hands with former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kalyan Singh, who floated his own outfit, Jan Kranti Party (JKP), here Tuesday.

Beni Prasad Verma, a one-time Mulayam confidant, was quick to declare: “If the news is actually true, then it would prove to be a boon, both for the Samajwadi Party as well as Mulayam Singh Yadav.”

However, he hastened to add: “But I am not ready to believe Amar Singh because of his old habit of playing gimmicks and melodrama.”

According to him, “but for the dominance of Amar Singh , the Samajwadi Party would have never got the kind of beating it received at the recent elections”.

Raj Babbar, now a Congress MP from Firozabad where he defeated Mulayam’s daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav in the November by-election, was least surprised at Amar Singh’s much-touted resignation.

“With Mulayam’s son Akhilesh taking over the reins of the Uttar Pradesh unit of SP, Amar Singh had been truly relegated to the background. At long last there was someone who had gone to the extent of avoiding Amar Singh’s name on the bulk of posters and banners put up in the campaign for the coming elections to 36 state legislative council seats. That was something Amar Singh could not tolerate,” Raj Babbar told IANS over telephone from New Delhi.

“But I am sure, it will do a lot good to SP as well as all to Samajwadis across the country,” he added.