Rao Inderjit Singh

Rao Inderjit Singh (born 11 February 1951) is an Indian politician, a serving member of the 15th Lok Sabha, the Lower house of the parliament of India. He represents Gurgaon in Haryana, having previously represented Mohindergarh, and is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) political party. He is a Yadav by caste and a prominent leader of the Ahir community. ^[1]

At the national level he has served as Cabinet Minister for the Environment, as Minister of State for External Affairs, and as Minister of State for Defence Production. Since 2009 he has Chaired the Parliamentary Information technology committee.

Early life

Rao was born to late Rao Birendra Singh the scion of the Rewari dynasty who served as a second chief minister of Haryana. Rao studied at the Lawrence School, Sanawar,^[2] and the University of Delhi, where he took an LL.B degree in law.

Against Bhupinder Singh Hooda

The development of Rohtak[Hooda City] is causing political upheavals in the state with most of the development project being awarded to Rohtak by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda who hails from Rohtak. This has received severe criticism from the opposition parties, even from the members of ruling Congress, who attack Hooda for being biased with the people of other districts in allotting development projects.^[3] Rao Inderjit Singh a senior Congress leader from South Haryana is more vocal He used hard data procured through RTI which says out of a total of 5,135 announcements of schemes in the State, 2,045 have gone to the three districts of Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat that comprise areas of the Mr. Hooda’s own constituency and that of his son and Lok Sabha MP from Rohtak Deepender Singh Hooda. Of the 3,356 completed schemes, 1,560 are from these three districts whereas 1,796 schemes have been completed in the rest of the State.^[4][5] Ambala MP Selja Kumari ^[6] is also against region-specific and bias development of Rohtak.^[7][8] On Sept. 23, 2013, he resigned from Congress.^[9]

Political career

Haryana assembly

Rao was an MLA in the Haryana assembly for four terms, beginning in 1977. From 1982 to 1987 he was a provincial Minister of State responsible for Food and civil supplies. He was elected to the Lok Sabha as a Member of Parliament in 1998, serving in the parliaments of 1998-1999, 2000–2004, and 2004–2009. From 1991 to 1996 he served as Cabinet Minister for the Environment, Forest, Medical and Technical Education, then as Minister of State for External Affairs (2004–2006) and as Minister of State for Defence Production from 2006 to 2009. Since 2009 he has Chaired the Parliamentary Information technology committee.

Elections won

• 1998: elected to the 12th Lok Sabha from Mohindergarh
• 2004: elected to the 14th Lok Sabha from Mohindergarh
• 2009: elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from the new seat of Gurgaon, winning 278,516 votes in a contest with 23 other candidates.^[10]

Sportsman

• Rao Inderjit Singh was a member of the Indian shooting Team from 1990 to 2003 and won a Bronze Medal at the Commonwealth Shooting Championship. He was also a National Champion in Skeet for three consecutive years and won three gold medals in the SAF Games.

References