Amar Singh (politician)

Amar Singh
Singh speaking at the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit 2008.
Member of the Rajya Sabha
Personal details
Born 27 January 1956
Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India
Political party Samajwadi Party
Rashtriya Lok Dal
Spouse(s) Pankaja Kumari Singh
Children 2 daughters
Alma mater St. Xavier's College, Kolkata
University College of Law, Kolkata
Profession Politician
Religion Hindu
Website Rashtriya Lokmanch

Amar Singh (born 27 January 1956) is an Indian politician from the state of Uttar Pradesh was one of the leaders of Samajwadi Party. Known for his chaste Hindi and political connections, Amar Singh polarises the public opinion on him. He has several cases of corruption pending against him making him widely unpopular.,[1][2] He was the general secretary of the Samajwadi Party and was a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. On 6 January 2010, he resigned from all the posts of Samajwadi Party [3] and was later expelled from the party by its chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, on 2 February 2010.[4] He spent a brief period in judicial custody in 2011. He finally retired from politics.[5] In his statement he mentioned, "I want to give more time to my wife and my family. Therefore after the last day of polling (on May 13), I will retire from politics."

Personal life

Singh was born in a Rajput family[6] in Azamgarh.

Political career

The Singh's prominence in Delhi surged when the UPA government was reduced to a minority after the Communist Party of India withdrew their support over the proposed Nuclear Accord with the United States. His Samajwadi Party pledged support to the UPA government with the support of its 39 members.[7]

On 21 December 2010, Singh launched his official website and blog after being encouraged by Hindi film actor Amitabh Bachchan, whom he was close to at the time.

On 6 January 2010, he resigned as general secretary of the party as well as from its parliamentary board and as its spokesperson. He also used his blog to speak about his abrupt departure from the Samajwadi Party.He was admitted at Dubai hospital and stated to be critical on 19.02.2013.

Mr Singh along with his close associate Jaya Prada were expelled from the Samajwadi Party in February, 2010 . He floated his own political party, Rashtriya Lok Manch, in 2011, and fielded candidates in 360 of the 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh in the 2012 assembly polls. However his party did not win a single seat in these election. He joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal party in March 2014, and contested from Fatehpur Sikri, Uttar Pradesh in Indian general election, 2014 and lost.[8]

Positions held

Controversies

On 22 July 2008 he accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati of kidnapping six MPs of his party from Uttar Pradesh and holding them captive in Uttar Pradesh Bhavan, New Delhi.[9][10][11][12] Later, Samajwadi Party expelled the six MPs for defying the party directive during the confidence motion voting.[13]

He also courted controversy by asking for a probe in the Jamia Nagar batla house encounter case. First he gave 10 Lakh rupees cheque to the family of Mohan Chand Sharma, a police officer who died in the encounter, which bounced when checked its validity. Later he asked for a judicial enquiry into the firing incidence suggesting that the encounter may have been fake. Mohan Chand Sharma's family criticized him and returned his money.[14][15][16][17]

Amar Singh has been chargesheeted for offering bribes to three parliament members of the Bharathiya Janata Party in 2008 under the Prevention of Corruption Act by the Delhi Police on 24 August 2011.[18] Amar Singh has pleaded health grounds for not appearing before the courts where the chargesheet was being heard.[19] However, distressed by adverse media reports, Mr. Singh has appeared before the courts to dispel allegations that he is running away from a process of law. After hearing his personal pleas the Court has sent Mr. Amar Singh to judicial custody till 19 September 2011, in Delhi's Tihar jail.[20] But the money trail in this scandal was not traced to Amar Singh's account as per supreme court order and nor concrete evidence could be found against him. Charge sheet of Delhi police proved to be frivolous and false. The court rejected it and at last judardicary quashed all charges against him which resulted in his honourable acquittal.

2011 tapes controversy

A. Singh had filed a petition in 2006 after some of his telephone conversations were illegally tapped and were in circulation. The leader had moved the apex court and got a restraint order against their publication in the media. In May 2011, the Supreme Court of India removed the stay on publishing the taped conversations with Bollywood star including Bipasha Basu.

The government of India's council through its top law officer Gulam Vanavati the attorney general of India accpeted on record the these tapes were illegal and morphed. A case was registered on the basis of this illegal taping. And a man called Anurag Singh was arrested for this misdeed. He again tried to repeat the same thing with present finance minsiter Arun Jaitley which resulted in him being arrested again for getting indulgent in same cyber crime.

References

  1. Corruption case: Amar Singh gets reprieve from high court
  2. Amar Singh’s telephone conversations recorded, Such acts are surely very bad and very shameful
  3. "Amar Singh quits all party posts". The Hindu. 7 January 2010. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
  4. "Amar, Jaya expelled from SP". The Times of India. 2 February 2010. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
  5. http://iyerdeepak.wordpress.com/tag/amar-singh/
  6. "Samajwadi Party declares support to UPA". The Hindu. 9 July 2008. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
  7. "Amar Singh, Jaya Prada join Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal". NDTV.com. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-20.
  8. "BSP denies Amar Singh charge on kidnap of MPs". Retrieved 2009-03-20.
  9. "Amar Singh accuses Mayawati of "kidnapping" six SP MPs". Retrieved 2009-03-20.
  10. "SP's googly before trust vote". rediff. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  11. "Amar accuses Maya of poaching MPs". NDTV. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  12. 4:50:00 PM "SP expels six MPs for voting against govt". Press Trust of India. 25 July 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  13. "Sharma's family rejects SP offer". Outlook India. Retrieved 2009-03-20.
  14. "Killed Delhi cop's kin rejects Amar's cheque". rediff. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  15. "Family of slain Delhi cop rejects Amar Singh's cheque". indianexpress. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  16. "Try mechanism, not mike: Cong to Amar Singh". Economic Times. 6 October 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  17. "Amar Singh chargesheeted in cash-for-votes scam". NDTV. 24 August 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
  18. "Amar Singh arrested, sent to Tihar jail in cash-for-votes scam". Hindustan Times. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 2011-09-07.
  19. "Amar Singh sent to Tihar Jail for 13 days in cash-for-votes scam". Indiavision news. 6 September 2011.

External links