Aditi Singh, a rebel UP Congress member from the Rae Bareli Sadar Assembly seat, has joined the governing BJP in Lucknow. Rae Bareli is a Congress stronghold; Congress President Sonia Gandhi is the Lok Sabha Member of Parliament from here, and the town has voted for the party in every Lok Sabha election since 1980 (with the exception of 1996 and 1998, when the BJP’s Ashok Singh was elected). Ms Singh’s father, Akhilesh Singh, a five-term MLA from this constituency, was close to the Gandhi family, and she was seen with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra whenever she visited Rae Bareli.
The Congress had petitioned the Speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly to disqualify Ms Singh for anti-party conduct, but she was not disqualified. Ms Singh’s flip comes months before elections in the strategically important state, where the BJP is seeking re-election despite large farmer protests over agricultural rules and increasing costs of critical products including as petrol and vegetables.
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Aditi Singh, an outspoken opponent of the Congress and its leadership, attacked senior lawmaker Priyanka Gandhi Vadra last week for challenging the contentious agricultural rules. “When the laws are abolished, she has a dilemma. What is it that she desires? She should express herself plainly. She’s only politicising the situation. Aditi Singh was cited as saying, “She has run out of problems to politicise.” “Priyanka Gandhi constantly politicised Lakhimpur (where farmers were allegedly ran over by a convoy purportedly led by a Union Minister’s son) and other causes. The CBI is investigating the incident in Lakhimpur.
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It has been brought to the attention of the Supreme Court. I’m not sure who she can trust if she doesn’t trust the institutions. she went on. The governing party will be hoping that Aditi Singh’s entrance would help them overturn the Congress stronghold, which would be a big victory. Aditi Singh, a rogue Congress MLA from Rae Bareli who had disassociated herself from the party some time ago, joined the BJP on Wednesday, along with Vandana Singh, a rebel BSP MLA from Sigri in Azamgarh.
