By IANS,
New Delhi: Hours after taking charge as the Samajwadi Party’s new general secretary and spokesperson, Mohan Singh Wednesday demanded that Amar Singh should resign from the Rajya Sabha too.
“Rajya Sabha membership is given by the party and, therefore, he should resign from the Rajya Sabha also,” said Mohan Singh, who was Wednesday appointed the party general secretary and spokesperson in place of Amar Singh who resigned from the post recently.
He said that since Amar Singh has quit as the party’s general secretary, member of the parliamentary board and as spokesperson, he should quit the Rajya Sabha post too.
“Amar Singh is now part of history. In political parties, people keep coming and going. It is an ongoing process,” he told reporters here.
He added that it was because of people like Amar Singh that the party got the image that it is with the “rich and mighty only”.
“People felt that the SP has become a party of corporates. We too are responsible for being mute spectators on the issue,” he told reporters here.
“We have to convince people and bring them to the (party) fold,” he said when asked whether he would try to bring back leaders who had left the party.
Asked if the party would also try to woo back Raj Babbar, Mohan Singh tried to be non-committal. “He is an MP. But he will always remain a socialist.”
Mohan Singh’s remarks coincided with Amar Singh’s 54th birthday Wednesday.
Earlier, Amar Singh said that party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had called him and wished him “happy birthday”.
On the party’s announcing new general secretaries, Amar Singh said: “He (Yadav) has moved on and left a sick and disabled person behind.”
Asked about Mohan Singh’s demand that he resign from the Rajya Sabha, Amar Singh told reporters: “I will not resign because I have not left the party. I have just resigned from the party posts because of ill health.”
Mohan Singh, 63, who lost the Lok Sabha elections from the Deoria seat this time, is regarded as the “think-tank” of the party. A three-time Lok Sabha member, he has been associated with the socialist movement for over three decades.
Amar Singh sent his resignation to Mulayam Singh Yadav Jan 6 from Dubai where he was holidaying. Amar Singh said he was resigning on health grounds and Mulayam Singh accepted the resignation Jan 18 “with a heavy heart”.