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Friday, Nov 14, 2008
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A royal revolt in Bharatpur on eve of polls

Sunny Sebastian

JAIPUR: The good old Bharatpur royal has done it again. In what appears to be a reversal of BJP fortunes in the Bharatpur region in the run-up to the Rajasthan Assembly elections, BJP Member of Parliament and royal family scion Vishvendra Singh resigned from Parliament as well as the party on Thursday.

There is talk about his returning to the Congress, the party with which he started his chequered political career two decades ago. During V. P. Singh’s tenure as Prime Minister, Vishvendra Singh, then elected on Janata Dal ticket, had sprung a similar surprise by quitting the House over the reservation issue.

Mr. Singh, whose wife Divya Singh too has been a BJP Member of Parliament in the past, was Political Adviser to Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje at the time of his revolt, provoked obviously by the BJP’s decision to field Industries Minister Digamber Singh from Deeg-Kumher, one of the royal family’s pocket boroughs. The embarrassment is all the more for Ms. Raje because, while assiduously cultivating this rather unpredictable Jat royal, she had gone out of her way to appoint him her Political Adviser just a few months ago.

Ms. Divya Singh belongs to the Gujjar community, and during the violent Gujjar agitation in the region in May-June this year Mr. Singh had volunteered unsuccessfully to negotiate with the agitating Gujjars. In furtherance of her attempts to humour the royal family, which has considerable clout in the region, Chief Minister Raje a month ago had appointed Divya Singh Chairperson of the Rajasthan Subordinate Services Board. Ms. Singh, elected from Deeg in a by-election earlier, had resigned as MLA to take over the post.

Mr. Singh, who was admitted to a Delhi hospital recently following complaints related to the heart, had been in a defiant mood ever since the BJP leadership ignored his demands over allocation of party tickets for his favourites.

As such there is no love lost between Dr. Digambher Singh, who has emerged as a new political force among the Jats, and Mr. Vishvendra Singh who plays political games according to his own rules. A few days ago, apparently at the insistence of Ms. Raje, both men had embraced each other publicly and announced a ceasefire.

Mr. Vishvendra Singh, discharged from hospital on Wednesday and recuperating now at his official residence in Delhi, is expected to reach Bharatpur on Friday. As per the present schedule he is to file his papers from Deeg-Kumher on November 17, the last day for filing nominations.

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