Arjun Singh’s days of glory are finally over although the veteran Congressman still has supporters on his home turf, reports Raju Kumar
After scaling the heights of political glory and fighting battles outside his royal zone, former HRD Minister Arjun Singh finds himself on the political sidelines, an object of some mirth and scorn. Singh won his first election from Majholi Vidhan Sabha in 1957 as an Independent. With that he never looked back, even after forming the Tiwari Congress. He has held a string of positions—legislator in MP, minister, leader of Opposition, chief minister, Governor and central minister. In 1993, for a brief period he was also contender for the Prime Minister’s post. For the last few years though this once tallest leader of the Vindhya area finds himself pilloried for the area’s backwardness. Kallu Prasad Saket, 61, from his village Sada says: “No matter who the King is, we shall remain poor. We think of them as our own, they don’t.”
Times have definitely changed and Singh no longer enjoys his earlier status. The last Lok Sabha elections further corroded his authority as he could get tickets neither for his son Ajay Singh nor daughter Veena Singh. His plan was to introduce the second generation while he was still around and hence despite refusal from the Congress he had his daughter contest as an Independent and got his mother Saroj Singh to talk about his political achievements but got no successes.
After scaling the heights of political glory and fighting battles outside his royal zone, former HRD Minister Arjun Singh finds himself on the political sidelines, an object of some mirth and scorn. Singh won his first election from Majholi Vidhan Sabha in 1957 as an Independent. With that he never looked back, even after forming the Tiwari Congress. He has held a string of positions—legislator in MP, minister, leader of Opposition, chief minister, Governor and central minister. In 1993, for a brief period he was also contender for the Prime Minister’s post. For the last few years though this once tallest leader of the Vindhya area finds himself pilloried for the area’s backwardness. Kallu Prasad Saket, 61, from his village Sada says: “No matter who the King is, we shall remain poor. We think of them as our own, they don’t.”
Times have definitely changed and Singh no longer enjoys his earlier status. The last Lok Sabha elections further corroded his authority as he could get tickets neither for his son Ajay Singh nor daughter Veena Singh. His plan was to introduce the second generation while he was still around and hence despite refusal from the Congress he had his daughter contest as an Independent and got his mother Saroj Singh to talk about his political achievements but got no successes.
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