The next General Elections are around the corner, among the important realignments, there are talks in political circles that Amar Singh might enter in NDA. Recently, one of the NDA’s alliance partners in Uttar Pradesh, the Shuheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) offered the ticket to expelled Samajwadi Party (SP) leader, Amar Singh, to contest 2019 General Elections from Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh. According to this One India report, Om Prakash Rajbhar, SBSP chief and UP minister, reportedly said, “Amar Singh is a big leader if he wishes to contest the 2019 polls from Azamgarh, and if the seat comes to our quota, we would gladly offer it to him. Also, SBSP’s doors are always open for him. However, the sharing of seats among NDA partners is yet to be decided.”
The Samajwadi Party leader and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav is currently the Member of Parliament from Azamgarh seat. In 2014, Amar Singh contested against Hema Malini from Mathura on a Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) party ticket and ended up tasting defeat.
The recent development has come after Amar Singh attended a function in Lucknow which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PM Modi was talking about how a certain set of politicians stay away from acknowledging their relations with corporates in public but wine and dine with them in privat/ he then took a friendly jibe at Amar Singh and said “Bhai Amar Singh ko to pata hi hoga (Of course Amar Singh must be knowing about it)”. Amar Singh took the jibe sportingly and later on publicly praised PM Modi and UP CM Yogi Adityanath while attacking the SP and BSP. He said, “I don’t believe in hiding my relations and if at all I decide to join the NDA, it will be a very public affair. I believe in politics of sanity and sensitivity…There is no Congress in UP. It is a fringe player. The SP and BSP are the two sides of the same coin.” He also said, “I have four years of my tenure left (as a Rajya Sabha MP). I don’t want to get engaged in one area. I want to visit the whole of Uttar Pradesh and if possible, the entire country, and speak wherever I can… I am not a big leader, but I have an identity in the country. If I can utilise it, it will be in support of Modiji.” Amar Singh also supported NRC exercise in Assam. Amar Singh said, “No leader is saying that it is the last list. The Assam chief minister is saying no one will be asked to leave (the country). What the BJP is doing today, the Congress should have done earlier.”
However, what many people have failed to notice is that Amar Singh’s affection for the BJP began more than a year back. In July also, there were speculations in political circle that Amar Singh might join the BJP. Many people give credit to Amar Singh for causing a massive infighting in the Samajwadi Party’s first family just before the Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, leaving SP completely shattered. Last year, he was expelled from the SP by Akhilesh-led faction.
In the political circles, Amar Singh is considered a power broker who has powerful connections in politics, business circles and Bollywood as well. He is known to be among the shrewdest people in the corridors of power, the kind that can get things done. It would be interesting to see whether the BJP and Amar Singh would publicly join hands or not.