Dumariyaganj station, Rahul Mail and Passenger Amar Singh

Prashun Bhaumik |

By Sanjiv Acharya

Former Samajwadi Paty general secretary Amar Singh is overjoyed after a long time, especially after his unceremonious exit from Mulayam Singh’s party some time back. A candidate supported by his Lok Manch in the recently concluded Dumariyaganj bye election in UP secured more votes than the SP. Though the seat was won by the ruling BSP and the BJP got second place, the Lok Manch supported Peace Party Candidate came third. The SP had to remain content with fourth place, while the Congress came fifth.

Amar Singh was so happy with the result that he wasted no time in attacking everybody who was hoping to see him get wiped out. He wrote on his blog: “The SP leadership had expelled me to get rid of what they called the film star and five-star culture, to revert back to the ‘socialist ideology’ and regain its ‘lost voters’, but the results have shown who stands where.”

In an effort to prove his utility to Congress as well as his old party SP, that he is still a deciding factor in UP politics, Amar Singh has put up an analysis of the election result. He says, “Had the Lok Manch supported Peace Party forged an alliance with the Congress or the SP, the BSP would have been defeated. The BSP got 46,766 votes (31.4 percent), the BJP bagged 28,923 votes (19.4 percent), while the Peace Party came a close third securing 26,336 votes (17.7 percent). The SP could get only 21924 votes (14.7) and the Congress 19206 votes (12.9 pc). Together the Peace Party, Lok Manch and Congress had secured 45,542 votes, which was almost equal to the votes by the BSP. And if the Peace Party and Lok Manch had combined with the SP they would have got 48,260 votes, which is more than that scored by the BSP. These results show that a “party-less, banner-less man like me had still some potential left.”

It is interesting that Amar Singh has cautiously avoided criticising the Congress party or Rahul Gandhi for the party’s poor showing. Instead he attacked the Congress MP from that Lok Sabha seat, Jagdambika Pal, who was the chief minister of UP for a historical three days. He described Rahul Gandhi as man of “right intentions and right policies”. Reacting to the whispers of the Congress and SP joining hands, Amar says, “Rahul Mail chal rahi hai, mulayam bhi berth chahte hain.” At the same time, when asked whether his analysis of the election results and his comments on Rahul Gandhi meant he was keeping his options open both in respect of the Congress and the SP, Amar Singh replied, “Yes, in politics, all options were open… Moreover, I did not leave the SP, but was thrown out by Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, who chose family over his friend. The Dumariaganj results were indicative of the shape of things in the 2012 elections, and should be an eye-opener for the Mulayam Singhji”.

Are you listening Akhilesh? Your chachu is getting eager to get back to fill the SP vacuum.