On Tuesday Former union minister RPN Singh joined the Bharatya Janata Party (BJP).
In a major decision ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, the Jharkhand in-charge and ex-MP from Kushinagar constituency took to Twitter to inform of his joining BJP and said, “This is a new beginning for me and I look forward to my contribution to nation building under the visionary leadership & guidance of the Honourable Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi, BJP President Shri @JPNadda ji & Honourable Home Minister @AmitShah ji.”.
According to the reports
His exit from the grand old party will have limited impact given that he is not a pan-Uttar Pradesh leader and his sphere of influence is confined to the Kushi Nagar Lok Sabha constituency, adjoining Gorakhpur, which he represented in 2009.
His old Assembly seat of Padrauna, which he represented thrice from 1996 to 2009, falls in the Kushi Nagar constituency.
But Singh’s exit is politically damaging to the Congress as he is considered to be one of the Generation Next leaders of the party. Though he is 57 years old, he was seen as among the leaders who would be part of Rahul Gandhi’s future Congress.
Singh belongs to the OBC Kurmi caste and his elevation as AICC in-charge of Jharkhand some years ago was seen as the party’s signal that it was now giving weightage to OBC-centric politics. Both Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot and his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel belong to the OBC community.
Statement by RPN Singh
Also said, I was with the party for 32 years with honesty and dedication, but the party and the ideology is not the same anymore. If the county is to be taken forwards, I will works as a volunteer towards fulfilling PM modi dreams for India “jai hind ”