Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav. PTI File photo
On the day the second half of the Budget session started, Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav said Amar Singh was “kicked out” of the party and said he cannot win even a polling booth.
Yadav made the statement in the Parliament complex on Thursday when Singh was within a hearing distance. Singh responded saying “That is their (SP) culture. He says I was kicked out. Now the people of the state will kick them out (of power)”.
“Who is Amar Singh? Is he a person who can win or defeat someone even at the booth-level? There are so many big people, but you (media) find the time to speak to him (Singh). He was expelled, not only expelled but kicked out of the party,” Yadav said. Yadav’s opinions of Singh were expressed in the response to a query on Singh’s assessment that the BJP will out-perform the SP-Congress alliance in Uttar Pradesh polls.
The acrimony between the leaders is a reflection of the power struggle that had happened in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s camp. Singh, who was accused by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s camp of flaring up the divide between Mulayam and Akhilesh, was eventually dumped by even Mulayam, which led to his expulsion from the party.
Currently, Singh is making overtures to the BJP with repeated praises of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Top leadership of both the SP and Congress have called Modi an outsider to UP. Modi chose to contest from UP leaving Gujarat. If regional leaders rake up issues of regionalism, it is a okay, but when it is raised by national leaders, then it is a different matter,” Singh said on Thursday.