Team News Riveting
Lucknow, January 25
In a major setback to Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi’s effort to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh, its prominent figure Kunwar Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh or RPN Singh quit and joined the BJP as state gears up to go to the polls.
A member of the royal family of Padrauna, Kushinagar in eastern Uttar Pradesh, Singh was a former Union Minister and considered a member of ‘Team Rahul Gandhi’ in the Congress. He was close confidant of the former Congress President, who is reported having least say now in Uttar Pradesh where his sister Priyanka is handling the organisational affairs.
RPN Singh was the Congress’s star campaigner in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.
His resignation is also a setback to Priyanka Gandhi’s efforts to revive the party in Uttar Pradesh, and a gain for the BJP that lost Padrauna strongman Swami Prasad Maurya recently. RPN Singh’s entry in the saffron camp is seen as an aftermath of Swami Prasad Maurya quitting the Yogi Adityanath government to switch from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party to the Samajwadi Party.
Singh, who was the Congress’s Jharkhand in-charge but had reportedly been pushed to the margins in the party, is likely to be pitted against Maurya by the BJP. Having fallen out of favour of the Gandhis, Singh’s resignation is next in the series of flights of Team Rahul Gandhi members from the party that saw leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Jitin Prasada switching over to the BJP.
Singh was among the Congress leaders who had opposed the party’s stand on the Narendra Modi government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. He apparently told the Congress leadership to visit his constituency, Padrauna and Kushinagar to ‘get the sense on the ground’ before opposing the Modi government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 in Kashmir.
Back then his ‘no Modi name calling’ strategy for Jharkhand election spoiled his relationship with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who objected to the poll template. Rahul Gandhi later fumed that he was “isolated” in attacking PM Modi in election campaigns. Rahul Gandhi found support from Priyanka Gandhi, the Uttar Pradesh in-charge of the Congress. RPN Singh had been on “explanation mode” ever since in the Congress.
RPN Singh’s decision to quit the Congress was being anticipated for a long time. To prevent him from quitting the party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is said to have spoken to his mother Mohani Singh in mid-2021. Mohani Singh had reportedly assured Sonia Gandhi back then that she would dissuade RPN Singh from leaving the Congress.
