By IANS,
New Delhi: Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Amar Singh Wednesday threw the political establishment into a bout of fevered speculation when he announced his surprise resignation as general secretary of his party and other posts, citing health reasons.
“I hardly had any rest. Doctors told me it is not good. At the age of 53, I am entitled to earned leave and need to give more priority to my family. After 20 years of hard work, they (the family) should get priority over Mulayam-ji and the party,” Amar Singh, one of the visible and quoted politicians of the country, told NDTV.
Amar Singh had a kidney transplant at a Singapore hospital last summer and doctors had apparently told him to take it easy and avoid infections if he wanted to live long.
Speaking from Dubai, the SP leader denied he had any differences with party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav but insisted he would not withdraw his resignation.
“I am very grateful to him (Mulayam Yadav) for all the opportunities he has given to me. There are no differences. All my life, I will not speak a word against him.”
Singh said he would not mind shouldering another responsibility after division of labour in the party. The SP leader, who is a Rajya Sabha MP and the best known face of the party, said he was not indispensable.
“Amar Singh or no Amar Singh, the party will do well. It has the capability,” he said, adding that the party had many other general secretaries.
Reacting to Amar Singh’s resignation, Mulayam Singh Yadav told reporters in Etawah in Uttar Prdaesh that it was an internal matter of the party.
“I have not come to know about it. I have not heard of it (resignation)…And if it is, it’s the internal matter of the party and you people (reporters) should not have any interest in it,” he snapped.
In the past, Amar Singh has appeared miffed with party colleagues who had not visited him in Singapore when he was ill. “Only family members and Bachchans and Ambanis” were with him at that time, he had said.
He denied he was leaving active politics, though “I am overburdened. I am not able to cope with the kind of responsibilities (assigned)” Amar Singh said.
He said he had given his resignation to Mulayam Singh Yadav thrice earlier, but it was rejected every time.
“I am not likely to oblige him now as my priorities are my daughters and my family,” he said, adding that he often worked 20 hours a day.
Asked if he was looking at life outside SP, Amar Singh said he did not know what was in store for him.
Singh is expected to return from Dubai Friday.