Sanjay Sinh’s exit from Congress last nail in its ‘Amethi coffin’

LUCKNOW: After the people of Amethi rejected Rahul Gandhi in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the Congress was dealt another blow in this Nehru-Gandhi pocket-borough on Tuesday.
One of the party’s oldest vanguards, Sanjay Sinh, also known as the ‘Raja of Amethi’, ended his almost four-decade association with the grand old party. His wife Ameeta, who was heading the All-India Professional Congress, also moved with her husband.
In a press statement issued in New Delhi, the incumbent Congress Rajya Sabha MP, who resigned from his post, said: “I have resigned from the Congress as well as Rajya Sabha and will join the BJP tomorrow (Wednesday).” To note, Sinh’s stint as Rajya Sabha MP was to end in April 2020.
He also told reporters that his decision would not impact Congress in anyway and that he had taken the step after giving a serious thought to it.
Though the Congress leadership maintained a stoic silence over the issue, Sinh’s exit from the party was being debated by Congressmen. While the old-timers saw it as the ‘final blow’ to the party in Amethi, the younger lot felt it was ‘good riddance’.
“Sanjay was party’s main man in Amethi. His exit comes at a time when the party is already battling for survival in a place that has been Congress fortress for decades. The burden of Rahul’s humiliating defeat has been furthered by this,” said a senior party leader in Amethi.
Presenting a counter-view, a young spokesperson said: “He (Sinh) could not save his seat and lost miserably to Maneka Gandhi in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. His contribution to the party can be gauged from Rahul’s loss, party’s poor show in local bodies and Vidhan Sabha elections.”
Insiders revealed that Congress leadership including Rahul and Priyanka were also not happy with him especially after he lost Sultanpur where he could barely secure 41,681 - about one-sixth of what he got in 2009.
Also, this was not the first time that Sanjay Sinh changed sides. He contested and won the 1998 Lok Sabha elections on BJP ticket, defeating Congress Party’s Captain Satish Sharma. Sinh however lost to UPA chief Sonia Gandhi on the same seat in 1999 and came back in 2003.