The former Samajwadi Party general secretary, Amar Singh — who was expelled from the party on Tuesday along with SP Lok Sabha member Jayaprada and four MLAs for “anti-party activity” — said here that he would not quit his Rajya Sabha seat.
“I have not been given that seat by the SP in charity; I have earned it,” Mr. Amar Singh told journalists soon after his expulsion announcement in Lucknow.
He and Ms. Jayaprada shall become unattached members in their respective Houses in case they do not resign. Ms. Jayaprada represents the Rampur parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha for a second term.
Although he sounded somewhat hurt at the manner in which he was exiting the party he was associated with for 14 years, Mr. Amar Singh welcomed his “liberation” and termed it his “political nirvana.”
He regretted that while the SP had not expelled Raj Babbar or Beni Prasad Verma, who are in the Congress party now, his party acted against him for all the hard work he did for 14 years.
‘Blessing in disguise’
Describing the expulsion as a “blessing in disguise,” Mr. Amar Singh said that he had neither approached any party nor any leader in the Congress, the Bahujan Samaj Party or the Nationalist Congress Party.
“It is all propaganda to say that I spoke in favour of [BSP leader] Mayawati. All I said was that when Mulayam Singh and Mayawati were together, she was pampered, but as soon as they split, the guest house incident occurred. Being a man I am unable to take the insults being heaped on me. So I could well understand how she felt. This does not mean that I support her or her party or her policies,” Mr. Amar Singh said.
Adding that he did not know why SP chief Mulayam Singh took action against him, Mr. Amar Singh said his biggest regret was that the party had “deliberately designed the blame on him” for bringing in the former BJP leader, Kalyan Singh.
“Kalyan Singh’s son Rajvir and associate Kusum Rai were ministers in Mulayam Singh’s government in U.P. While I was undergoing treatment in Singapore, Mulayam Singh had slogans raised for Kalyan Singh at the SP Agra convention in 2009. Had my party chief told me that ‘buddy, I am in a soup, Muslims are fleeing from the party,’ as a spokesman I would have taken the blame publicly and shielded my leader as I had done on so many occasions,” Mr. Amar Singh said.
“The party cannot be run by nepotism, casteism and autocracy. One can run a Yadav-mahasabha like this, but not the party. For long have the Yadavs ruled. Now some backward class must be supported or an educated Muslim should become the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh,” he added.
‘Not anti-party activity’
According to Mr. Amar Singh, his speaking up for computer technology, the Women’s Reservation Bill, and the trifurcation of U.P. for better governance did not amount to “anti-party activity.”
“Had it come to that, I would not have defied the party whip on these issues in Parliament. These are only proposals. I do not support English but I do feel that to fight it one must learn it,” he said.
“As for the new spokesman, Mohan Singh, who lost the Lok Sabha elections, I can understand his desperation to see me out of the Rajya Sabha. He feels that by abusing me, he can gain a seat in the Rajya Sabha.”
