Shortly after demonetization in November 2016, a video purportedly exhibiting him smiling at a derogatory remark towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi by an unidentified particular person fetched Amar Singh an FIR on the Metropolis Kotwali police station in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh. The Samajwadi social gathering chief wasted no time to file a counter grievance towards the particular person uttering the feedback and went on to dub demonetization as a brave transfer.
Opposite to his social gathering’s stand, Singh who had been re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in Could that yr, went forward to reward the coverage determination, though with a footnote concerning the weak spot in its implementation. Whereas his social gathering educated their weapons on the PM, Singh went round declaiming how “proud” he was to have Narendra Modi as Prime Minister.
These statements marked the start of Amar Singh’s outreach in the direction of the PM and the Bharatiya Janata Social gathering with which he had a turbulent previous. In 2008, Singh was accused of conspiring and masterminding the cash-for-vote rip-off to bribe some MPs to cross vote forward of a confidence vote within the Lok Sabha.
The politically expedient Singh, often known as a power-broker in political circles, was unperturbed when he breached the Samajwadi Social gathering line to help the BJP on a number of points from the development of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya to the abrogation of Article 370 that gave Jammu and Kashmir its particular standing.
By 2017, when indicators of estrangement between him and his mentor Mulayam Singh Yadav have been evident, he appeared to take advantage of the hypothesis about his becoming a member of the BJP.
Singh’s warming as much as the BJP was seen after the Uttar Pradesh meeting elections in 2017, when he lashed out at Akhilesh Yadav for aligning with the Congress, accusing him of corruption and failing to supply improvement within the state.
His public outburst towards the Yadav scion led to a second expulsion from the social gathering, which was introduced on the nationwide conference. He was expelled for anti-party actions in 2010.
In 2018, a interval of exile from the general public eye, partly on account of his failing well being, ended when his presence at PM Modi’s occasion turned the speaking level. Whereas lashing out at his political opponents for secretly kowtowing with industrialists, PM Modi referred to Singh and the way he might disclose the small print of these conferences.
Basking from the eye, Singh later informed mediapersons that he’ll give out the names when the time is ripe. “Lab khulenge to utar jayegen chehre saare…” (Masks will slip after I open my mouth), he stated to a tv channel.
The PM’s remark reignited hypothesis of Singh’s entry into the social gathering fold. However Singh stored up the guessing recreation, neither denying nor giving cues about his subsequent transfer. In 2019, a BJP ally, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Social gathering (SBSP) even supplied him a ticket to contest from Azamgarh, a borough of the Yadavs and a seat then represented within the Lok Sabha by Mulayam Singh.
Singh, declined. He would reply to posers about his becoming a member of date by claiming he was solely a “supporter of PM Modi”.
“There was loads of hypothesis about him becoming a member of the BJP and it was normally triggered by his presence at BJP occasions. When he was seen on the three-day lecture sequence by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, the hearsay gained energy,” stated a BJP functionary not wishing to be quoted. When requested if his function within the 2008 money for votes scandal was a motive for the social gathering to maintain a distance, the functionary stated, “There are various causes …” however didn’t elucidate.
Singh additionally discovered a technique to worm his approach into the great books of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh; not solely did he help the demand for a Ram Temple at Ayodhya, but additionally donated his ancestral home in Azamgarh to the RSS.
Conscious of the numerous sobriquets he earned throughout his political innings, Singh whereas talking through the debate on the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Invoice in Rajya Sabha on August 5 final yr stated, he couldn’t be referred to as a “dal badloo” or a celebration hopper.
“I didn’t go away the social gathering, although I used to be expelled twice,” he stated on the ground of the Home and proceeded to help to the BJP.