BJP disciplines UP MP for abusing Mayawati: Who is Dayashankar Singh?

PM had launched Ujjwala scheme from Singh's constituency on May 1

Dayashankar Singh was on Wednesday sacked as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Uttar Pradesh unit vice-president. However, it was just a couple of months back when Singh was the toast of his constituency. On May 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched his government’s Ujjwala Yojana from Singh’s constituency in Ballia.

It was no coincidence that the PM chose a field in Ballia’s Maldapur village to launch the Ujjwala scheme, which aims at giving cooking gas cylinders to below the poverty line families. Singh hails from the village. He is also known to be close to Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan – his being the nodal ministry for the Ujjwala scheme.

After the controversy over Singh’s derogatory remarks on Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Wednesday, a section of BJP leaders came across as protective towards Singh. They hoped that the controversy would blow over in a day or two and blamed it on the “natural aggressiveness” that comes with Singh being a ‘Thakur’.

In 2012, Singh was one of the three UP state secretaries to quit from their posts to protest the party decision of appointing current Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj as the state general secretary.