Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh is abuzz with rumours that Congress’ Raebareli MLA Aditi Singh may cross over to the BJP — a speculation that has been doing the rounds for the last few weeks.
Singh, who is considered close to the Gandhi family, has made several moves of late that went against her party line.
On Wednesday, she did not participate in a foot march organised by Congress’ UP general secretary (east) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in Lucknow to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary.
Singh then went on to defy the party call to boycott a special assembly session called by the Yogi Adityanath government — leaving the Congress high command in a precarious situation.
Though Singh has rubbished rumours of her possible resignation from the Congress, there are instances in the past too that hold proof of her open defiance.
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Supported Modi govt on Article 370, praised Yogi
At the assembly session, Singh said she attended it for the sake of developmental politics.
Singh even praised Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s efforts to promote cleanliness and solar energy, but at the same time asked the BJP government to work more on those issues, apart from poverty alleviation.
“I am a well-educated MLA and I have done what I think is good for all. I have always tried to work for cleanliness and resolve several problems associated with poverty,” she said.
Leader of Congress Legislative Party in UP Ajay Kumar Lallu had announced Tuesday that all party MLAs would boycott the session. The special session was boycotted by other opposition parties too.
Earlier, Singh had openly supported the Narendra Modi government’s decision to scrap Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The MLA had called the decision historic and said it would help “in integrating J&K into the mainstream”.
The Congress had termed it her personal opinion.
Ready to face party action, says Singh
Singh told ThePrint that she was with the BJP government on issues related to national and public interests.
“The party is free to take whatever action it wants to take (against me for attending the session). I will continue to work outside the party line on issues of larger public interest,” she told ThePrint.
Contacted for a comment, Lallu said he would talk to Singh about this.
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Aditi Singh won Raebareli in 2017 despite huge Modi wave
Singh, 30, is the daughter of five-time Raebareli MLA Akhilesh Singh, who passed away on 20 August this year after a prolonged illness.
Due to deteriorating health of her father, Singh entered electoral politics in 2017.
Defying a massive Modi wave, Singh had managed to win the seat by over 90,000 votes. Following this, Aditi was appointed national secretary of the Mahila Congress in August 2018.
Singh has also been one of the important factors behind Congress’ Lok Sabha victory in Raebareli, which is represented by party president Sonia Gandhi. Raebareli is also the only seat in UP that the Congress won in the Lok Sabha elections.
Last year, there were rumours about her marriage to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi. Singh dismissed the rumours, saying Rahul is her brother and that she was “really saddened by such rumours on social media”.