Voices of protest within the Samajwadi Party against former national general secretary, Amar Singh, which had lain dormant, are now coming out in the open. The chief whip of the party in the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha and senior leader, Ambika Chaudhary on Thursday demanded Mr. Singh’s expulsion from the party for voicing his support for trifurcation of the State.
Mr. Singh had said at a Kshatriya Mahasabha rally in Varanasi on Wednesday that if required he would go on an indefinite fast in support of his demand. Mr. Singh is also reported to have said that if a resolution on the subject is brought by the Central Government he would vote in favour of it in the Rajya Sabha.
Reacting to Mr. Singh’s reported statement, Mr. Chaudhary said it was against the established policy of the Samajwadi Party, which is against the division of UP into smaller states. He said if Mr. Singh is in favour of UP’s division then he should leave the party.
Mr. Chaudhary told reporters that he would urge the Samajwadi Party leadership (read Mulayam Singh) to expel Mr. Singh from the party.
Mr. Chaudhary was among the host of SP leaders from Ballia, Azamgarh, Jaunpur and other eastern Uttar Pradesh districts who were opposed to the domineering influence exercised in the party affairs by Mr. Singh. In fact, the former national general secretary had named Mr. Chaudhary as among the leaders from Purvanchal (eastern U.P.), who had blamed him for mess in the Samajwadi Party at a function to honour Abu Aasim Azmi at the party headquarters in Lucknow in November last year.
Mr. Singh’s presence in the Kshatriya Mahasabha rally in Varanasi on Wednesday was his first public appearance after his resignation from the posts of national general secretary and spokesperson was accepted by Mr. Mulayam Singh on January 17, 2010. Mr. Amar Singh had also quit from the parliamentary board of the SP.
While addressing the rally, Mr. Amar Singh did not launch a direct attack on the SP president and contained himself at taking pot-shots at the hold exercised by the Yadav family over the party.
Though both Mr. Mulayam Singh and Mr. Amar Singh had refrained from attacking each other (both have said that they wanted to look forward), but that has not deterred Amar Singh’s detractors from sharpening their knives.
Mr. Chaudhary was confident that in the event of Mr. Singh’s expulsion from the party none of the MLAs and MPs, who were considered close to him would abandon Mr. Mulayam Singh. Incidentally, the party MLA from Haidergarh, Arvind Kumar Singh “Gope”, the newly-elected MLC from Pratapgarh, Akshay Pratap Singh, MLA from Tiloi, Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh and independent MLA from Kunda, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya, who are alleged to be close to Mr. Amar Singh were present in the House on Thursday.
