Former Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has today joined the Bharatiya Janata Party with his second wife Ameeta Singh. Singh, once a prime accused in the Syed Modi murder case, had resigned from Congress and his Rajya Sabha seat yesterday. He has long been considered a Gandhi family loyalist.
Singh and his wife Ameeta joined BJP today in presence of JP Nadda at the party’s national headquarters in Delhi.
.@DrSanjaySinhMP and Dr. @ameetasinh join BJP in presence of Shri @JPNadda at BJP headquarters. pic.twitter.com/lMFbzrY6vP
— BJP (@BJP4India) July 31, 2019
Reportedly, Sanjay Singh said the reason to leave the Congress party was because of zero leadership in the party. Singh who is considered as a tall leader in the Amethi region was earlier with the BJP and was elected to Lok Sabha in 1998. He later joined back Congress in 2003.
“I have resigned from the Congress, as well as Rajya Sabha. Will join the BJP tomorrow. I am supporting Modi because of his sabka sath sabka vikas,” said Sanjay Singh.
His second wife Ameeta Singh has also quit the Congress. She was chairperson of All India Professional Congress in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
“I have been with the Congress since 1984. My decision of leaving won’t impact Congress in any way. Whatever has happened in Congress in 15 years hasn’t happened before. I took this decision after thinking a lot about it,” said Singh.
Sanjay Singh who was a close friend and classmate of Rajiv Gandhi was named a prime suspect in the high profile Syed Modi murder case. Syed Modi was one of the most promising players of India hailing from Uttar Pradesh, was brutally murdered in 1988. Sanjay Singh, Syed Modi’s wife Ameeta Singh and another Congress leader outlaw-turned-politician, former MLA from Rae Bareli Akhilesh Singh were charged for criminal conspiracy and murder.
However, Sanjay Singh, a close friend of Rajiv Gandhi allegedly got his name as well as Ameeta’s name dropped from CBI charge sheet. Sanjay Singh went on to marry Ameeta in 1990 while still being legally married to Garima Singh, a relative of VP Singh.
Interestingly, in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly elections, Ameeta Singh had contested the Amethi constituency as an INC candidate and had Garima Singh as one of her opponents, who stood from the BJP. Both women named Sanjay Singh as their spouse in their election affidavits, and it was Garima who won the contest by 5065 votes.
It is also interesting that Sanjay Singh is now joining the BJP from which his estranged wife Garima Singh is already an MLA.