Rajya Sabha polls: Not ready to annoy Azam, SP dumps Amar Singh

Lucknow: Contrary to speculations running for months, the Samajwadi Party did not include Amar Singh’s name in the list of party candidates for election to the Rajya Sabha. The list was released after a meeting of the SP parliamentary board and contained the names of party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, Tanzeem Fatima, Javed Ali, Chandra Pal Singh Yadav, Neeraj Shekhar and Ravi Prakash Verma. While Ram Gopal Yadav is a cousin of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Tanzeem Fatima is the wife of senior UP minister Mohammad Azam Khan and Neeraj Shekhar is the son of former prime minister Chandra Shekhar. Amar Singh’s name had been doing the rounds ever since he attended a function in Lucknow to mark the birth anniversary of Janeshwar Mishra, and subsequently he had held two meetings with Mulayam and his Chief Minister son Akhilesh Yadav. However, it was common knowledge that both Ram Gopal Yadav and Azam Khan were strongly opposed to any move to allow entry to Amar Singh into the party and the Rajya Sabha nominations showed that the duo had succeeded in their efforts. [caption id=“attachment_1487157” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan. AFP[/caption] Not only this, the inclusion of the name of Azam Khan’s wife is also meant to send a clear signal to the party leaders and workers that Azam Khan was not to be annoyed at any cost. In a related development, however, Tanzeem Fatima later turned down the offer after thanking the SP leadership for choosing her as the candidate. Reports said that although Azam Khan is a member of the parliamentary board he did not attend the meeting where the names were finalised. Sources even said Fatima may file the nomination. Another speculation is that Azam took the step after the recent bonhomie between his critic Amar Singh and Mulayam. A look at the list indicates that the SP has tried to accommodate Kurmi and Thakur candidates, besides giving place to Yadav and Muslim communities. Contrary to speculations the name of Ashok Bajpai, a senior Brahmin leader, was not included in the list. As per numerical strength of parties, SP can get six seats, BSP two seats and BJP and Congress-RLD combine can get one seat each. It is also learnt that Amar Singh may file his nomination for the seventh independent candidate with residual SP support as well as support from Congress. Nominations open for 10 Rajya Sabha seats on 3 November with 10 November being the last date for submitting the papers. Polling is to take place on 20 November for the seats that fall vacant on 25 November. Of these, two had been held by the SP – party secretary general Ram Gopal Yadav and Amar Singh. It appears that the SP is looking at consolidating its support among traditional community base and is not prepared at the moment to disrupt the balance of power within the party. It is perhaps for this reason that the name of Apna Dal leader Krishna Patel which was doing the rounds as an SP candidate, also did not figure on the list. Apna Dal is a part of the NDA and Krishna Patel’s daughter Anupriya Patel is the Lok Sabha member from Mirzapur, adjacent to Varanasi. Recently Krishna Patel removed Anupriya from the post of party general secretary, following which the party faces a split. By choosing Krishna Patel, the SP would have tried sending a signal that the BJP has not been able to hold its allies together. But apparently such adventurism has been put on hold in the face of resistance from other party seniors.