Has anybody heard from Amar Singh?

After addressing his last meeting on the final day of the long campaign for Uttar Pradesh, Amar Singh was a man of many moods. He was the detached philosopher. "I feel liberated, not lonely. Any pain or loss does not bother me. I have nothing more to lose."

He was the victim. "The pain of betrayal by Mulayam (Singh Yadav) was deeper than (that caused by) falling in an airborne helicopter or the loss of a kidney... For me (the relationship with) Mulayam Singh Yadav was not about politics, but emotion. If he can be dishonest in emotion, he cannot be honest in politics."

He was the angry avenger: "I want to tell the people of UP that the state has been ruled by 10 people. Five bureaucrats, three industrialists and two politicians, Mayawati and Mulayam Singh. The same bureaucrats and industrialists prosper in both political regimes. There is a nexus."

He blamed the people of UP: "If after all this, they are ready to coronate Mulayam Singh as emperor and Akhilesh as Shahzada Salim, UP deserves it!" If Mulayam wins, "It will be proved that in UP's politics, caste and creed are the only key to success", says the man who is himself addressed as 'Thakur' Amar Singh in public meetings. "It will be like the Gaddafi family (in Libya). Or Idi Amin's family (in Uganda)."

The always controversial general secretary of the SP, accused of introducing the Lohia-ite party to the seductions of big business and Bollywood, left the party in 2010, and now heads the Rashtriya Lok Manch.

Throughout this election, while the spotlight followed Akhilesh — whom Amar Singh claims to have propelled to UP SP chief because "I thought he will understand my language of youth and modernity" — Singh, Rampur MP and film star Jaya Prada in tow, was also touring the state, fighting for a foothold. There have been three padyatras — "1,080 km by foot" topped by "at least 270 rallies".

... contd.

ALSO READ

Demolition drive: Traders blame ‘high-handed’ Azam

Ignored by Mulayam, Banda MP looks at BSP

Cong to cash in on SP govt’s ‘neglect’ of minorities

At AMU, students more bothered about ban on motorbikes than wearing sherwanis