It may have been a bombshell in Delhi last week. But in Lucknow’s political circles, Amar Singh’s resignation from the Samajwadi Party had been talked about for quite some time.
Party insiders talk about how the loudmouth leader had become a millstone around the party’s neck and that his negative contribution led to the loss of the party seat in Firozabad, where party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav lost a prestige contest to the Congress’ Raj Babbar in November last year.
It is learnt that the boisterous general secretary had completely alienated the extended family of party chief Mulayam Singh and his brother Shivpal Yadav, leader of the opposition in the Uttar Pradesh assembly.
Such is the stranglehold of the Yadav family on the party’s affairs now that even Amar Singh, with his symbiotic closeness to Mulayam, finds himself an outsider and had no option but to resign, though he cited “health reasons” for quitting.
rounak