Amar praises Sonia, regrets 'past' comments

A few days after questioning his erstwhile leader Mulayam Singh Yadav’s socialist credentials and his commitment to Lohia, Amar Singh today expressed regret in public for his past observations about Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

On the grounds that he belonged to a party that did not permit him to speak his mind, Singh, who addressed a rally in Ghaziabad, said the Gandhi family had made many sacrifices which had gone unappreciated by the Samajwadi Party. Now that he was out of the party, he could say what he really felt.

Earlier in the week, Singh wrote in his blog that he had serious doubts about Mulayam Singh Yadav’s commitment to Lohia. “In UP it is hard to find any backward class leader who is not a member of the Yadav clan,” he said. He added that while Lohia had made SM Joshi, a little known Socialist, the chief of the party, keeping himself out of the power equation, the Samajwadi party was dominated only by members of the Yadav family.

Singh has been touring UP to cobble together a coalition of lower, unrepresented castes in a bid to challenge the Samajwadi Party. However, he has made no secret of the fact that he would like to join the Congress if given a chance. The Congress is equally determined that it has no place for a person of his particular talents. However, party managers say in the Rajya Sabha, Amar Singh might bail the party out, especially since the Congress is in a minority. Although he was abroad for treatment during the debate on the Women’s Reservation Bill, his associate in the Lok Sabha, Jaya Prada has spoken in favour of the Congress and is likely to be counted as an ally.