NEW DELHI: In a major jolt to Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Amar Singh quit all party posts, including SP general secretary, SP parliamentary board member and party spokesman.
Although he cited health reasons for the parting of ways, the move comes as a culmination of simmering differences with Yadav. Amar Singh has been the face of the Samajwadi Party, roping into the party several leaders and film stars and helping project a modern face of the party.
Amar Singh had a stormy career in the party with a predominantly socialist ideology. Amar Singh is credited with introducing a corporate culture in Samajwadi Party. He roped in film stars like Amitabh Bachchan, his wife Jaya Bachchan, Jaya Prada and Nafisa Ali. Old socialist ideologues like former Union Minister Janeshwar Mishra have never hidden their distaste for Amar Singh’s style, but Mulayam Singh always brushed aside all criticisms against Amar Singh.
Yadav said Amar Singh resigned only from the party posts and not from the party.
After the SP’s humiliating electoral drubbing in the Lok Sabha by-election in Ferozabad in Uttar Pradesh in November, Amar Singh had made a veiled criticism of Mulayam Singh Yadav, saying the defeat was because of the over-confidence of the SP chief and his family, when Mulayam Singh’s daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav was defeated by Congress candidate Raj Babbar.
