Amar Singh quits as SP general secretary

Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav says he has not received any formal communication from Amar Singh.

Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh today announced his surprise resignation from all key posts of his party, including the membership of the Parliamentary Board, citing health reasons.

“I have resigned on health grounds. I have to devote more time to my family. There are no difference with Mulayam Singh Yadav,” Singh told a news channel in Dubai. He is expected to return to Delhi on Friday.

However, the high-profile Samajwadi Party leader continues to be a primary member of the party and a Rajya Sabha MP.

Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, however, sought to play down the resignation of his close associate and said he had not received any formal communication from Amar Singh.

“Whatever news in this regard we have received is from TV news channels,” he said. Mulayam also denied reports of differences between him and Singh. “There is no such thing. I spoke to him only a couple of days back,” he said.

Amar Singh, on his part, also claimed he has no differences with his party boss and vowed not to speak “a word” against him and the party. “I am grateful to Mulayam Singh for the opportunities given and all my life I will not speak a word against him,” he said in the TV interview.

Though Amar Singh cited health reasons behind his surprise resignation, insiders in the party see it as a pressure tactics in the turf war between him and Akhilesh Prasad Singh, son of Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Amar had got into a spat with the Yadavs over the loss of Samajwadi Party candidate Dimple Yadav (Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law) in the election to the Ferozabad Lok Sabha seat last year.

Interestingly, Singh had recently posted a blog which dwelt on how he hadn’t got his due from his party. A sulking Singh blogged that his “active participation” in the Samajwadi Party was a “one-way traffic”. “I have worked hard over the years and have shouldered a lot of responsibilities but was not fortunate enough to be reciprocated (sic) by the party. Trust me, it sounds like a Hindu united family where “kartas with karmas” are always lesser in numbers, but ultimate fruit of success is shared with one and all and at times the real doer, particularly when a crisis erupts is lambasted and lampooned.”

Meanwhile, the Congress, which shares a hot and cold relation with Singh and his party, feigned indifference to the development in the rival camp. “Singh’s case has to be recommended by the state unit to the general secretary after which the application can be forwarded to the Congress president to take a decision,” All India Congress Committee General Secretary Digvijay Singh told reporters when asked if he would find a place in the party.