Senior Congress leader RPN Singh quits, joins BJP ahead of UP elections

Senior Congress leader RPN Singh on Tuesday resigned from the party and joined the BJP ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. 

The former Union Minister said in a tweet that it was a “new beginning” for him and that he looked “forward to my contribution in nation building under the visionary leadership of” Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president JP Nadda and Home Minister Amit Shah. 

Earlier today, Singh said he is “starting a new chapter in my political life” as he resigned in a big blow for the Congress ahead of the crucial UP assembly polls. 

“I hereby tender my resignation from the primary membership of the Congress party with immediate effect I thank you for providing me an opportunity to serve the nation, the people and the party,” he said in his resignation letter to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. 

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Singh, who belongs to the erstwhile royal family of Padrauna, was among the 30 star campaigners the Congress had announced Monday for the first phase of the elections. 

The 57-year-old dropped Congress from Twitter bio, which now reads “My motto India,First, Always”. He earlier had “AICC in-charge” in the bio. 

Singh, one of the Congress’ key leaders in Uttar Pradesh, was the party’s Jharkhand in-charge. He was an MP from Kushinahar and has served as Union Minister of State for Home Affairs.

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Singh is likely to contest the upcoming UP assembly elections from his stronghold of Padrauna, the constituency from where he was elected as an MLA three times, according to an NDTV report.

Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently left the BJP to join the Samajwadi Party, has been fielded from Padrauna. 

He represented the constituency from 1996 to 2009. He was elected as MP from the seat in 2009, but lost to BJP’s Rajesh Pandey in 2014.  

His exit will come as a big blow to the Congress’ aspirations in the assembly polls, with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra leading the party’s campaign in the state. 

This is the second senior Congress leader in Uttar Pradesh to leave the party, after Jitin Prasada quit last year. Prasada, who was a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, joined the BJP and was made a cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath-led government.