There is an uneasy silence at 27 Lodhi Estate, residence of Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh, the closest confidant of UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. And it is easy to see why political pundits would see ominous signs in this—the Lutyens’ bungalow has been the vortex of political machinations ever since Mulayam Singh Yadav and his party were jettisoned to centerstage in national politics a decade ago.

It is not as if the cabal of cronies and colleagues have deserted the SP stalwarts in the wake of the grim exit poll results. It’s only that Singh, at the worst possible time for him, happens to be confined to bed. An anxious Pankaja Singh, his wife, stands guard at the door of his bedroom where Singh is convalescing after a surgery a fortnight ago to remove kidney stones.

Murmurs about his being unwell had begun on the day of the Aishwarya Rai-Abhishek Bachchan wedding on April 20. There were questions asked when his Black Cat commandos got into a scuffle with the media outside the Bachchan residence and he could not be spied. Singh had explained to The Indian Express, “Why no one spotted me was because I was lying on the back seat of the car in a lot of pain.” He was flown to Delhi the next day for laser surgery to remove the stones.

To the dismay of his doctors and family, Singh was soon hankering to get on the campaign trail and, as his aides disclose, pulled off the tubes and pipes and walked out.

... contd.