Former SP leader Amar Singh’s Lok Manch has hit a rough patch.
His fledgling political outfit that was formed in June last year, now shows signs of disintegrating.
About four dozen Lok Manch activists returned to the parent Samajwadi Party on Sunday. Prominent among them included Anil Rajbhar, state president of Lok Manch, A
khand Pratap Singh, vice-president of the Lok Manch state unit, Rajnish Yadav , head of Amar Singh Youth Brigade and Shakib Ahmad of Yuva Lok Manch. Talking to this correspondent on condition of anonymity, one of the youth leaders said, “I share a warm personal rapport with Mr Amar Singh but he has lost political direction. We are looking for a secure future in politics and he has nothing to offer to us.”
Another leader claimed that it was Mr Singh’s brother, Arvind Singh, who is calling the shots in Lok Manch and ruffling a lot of feathers. “Arvind Singh is rude and arrogant and we are not going to dance to his tunes. Mr Amar Singh criticises Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav for promoting his family but he is doing the same with his brother.”
The four SP legislators, who had announced their support to Mr Amar Singh when the latter was shown the door from the Samajwadi Party a year ago, have also backed out.
While one of the MLAs, Ashok Chandel, has already found a foothold in BSP, the remaining three — Sandeep Agarwal, Sarvesh Singh and Madan Chauhan — are working towards their return to the Samajwadi Party.
“The Lok Manch is a platform for out-of-work filmstars and Mr Amar Singh cannot see beyond Jaya Prada, Sanjay Dutt and Manoj Tiwari. We expected him to take up political issues but he is not interested. Therefore, we decided to find a political abode for ourselves,” said one of the legislators.
Mr Amar Singh’s recent Purvanchal Yatra also failed to draw any political attention in the state though the starry presence of Ms Jaya Prada did pull in the crowds.
“More than talking about Purvanchal, Mr Singh used the platform to abuse Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav which did not go down well with the people,” said one of the MLAs.