Breaking away from party line, Congress MLA from Rae Bareli, Aditi Singh, on October 2 attended a special 36-hour ongoing session of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly convened by the Yogi Adityanath government despite a call for boycott by the Opposition parties.
Coming weeks after she spoke out in support of the Central government decision to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, her seemingly rebellious stance has triggered speculation over her future.
Ms. Singh is an MLA from the Rae Bareli Sadar seat, one of the five constituencies in the Parliamentary seat of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
While Ms. Singh was conspicuous with her absence from the padayatra in Lucknow led by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, to whom she is considered close, later she participated in the Assembly debate.
Talking to reporters outside the House, Ms. Singh said she did what she felt was right. She stated that she rose above party line and tried to talk about development.
“...because that's what the people elected me for. That is my first and foremost priority. I have always tried to walk the path that I feel is correct, the path that my father has taught me,” she said.
When asked if the Congress could initiate any action against her, she said she was willing to face the consequences. “Whatever decision the party takes, I am ready to accept that. It's their call. Today, I did what I felt was right,” she said.
Ms. Singh is the daughter of Akhilesh Singh, who was a Rae Bareli strongman and former MLA. He died recently.
Sources said that Ms. Singh was contemplating on her future in the Congress and move to the BJP could not be ruled out.
If she does quit the Congress, it would be a big setback for the party as earlier this year its former MLC Dinesh Singh left to join the BJP and contested against the UPA chairperson Ms. Gandhi in Rae Bareli. She, however, won but with a reduced margin.
In 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP had made huge dents into the Congress bastion of Amethi-Rae Bareli winning six out of 10 seats while the Congress only managed two legislators, Ms. Singh and Rakesh Singh from Harchandpur seat. Incidentally, the former is the brother of the rebel Mr. Dinesh Singh and a huge doubt loom over his future too.
