Amar Singh

Businessman-cum-politician Amar Singh is the general secretary of Samajwadi Party. He was a high profile All India Congress Committee (AICC) member, courtesy Madhavrao Scindia.

Businessman-cum-politician Amar Singh is the general secretary of Samajwadi Party. He was a high profile All India Congress Committee (AICC) member, courtesy Madhavrao Scindia.

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The switch to the SP came after Deve Gowda became Prime Minister. Amar acted as go-between and interpreter between Mulayam, who knew little English, and Deve Gowda, who knew less Hindi. (Not surprisingly Amar now says that Sonia Gandhi too needs an interpreter!) Mulayam was so taken up by his Mr Fixit, he gave him a Rajya Sabha seat.

Amar Singh loves to brag. Maybe he does this to further burnish his image as a powerbroker. For it is only as a powerbroker that he has flourished and found Mulayam Singh Yadav relying on him increasingly to pull his irons out of the fire in the capital's murky political world.

He enjoys good relationship with Big B and Subrata Roy of Sahara India group. Subrata's political influence will put many of India's top industrialists to shame - MP Amar Singh calls him a brother, while Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav is a dear friend.

Say one thing for Amar Singh, even his illness makes news. Recently, while the SP leader was recuperating from a surgery, his hospital bed became a pilgrimage spot for the who's who of Delhi and Mumbai. In fact, minutes after he recovered consciousness, Singh was busy telling visitors that the PM had sent him flowers!

The high-profile bouquet from Race Course made a fine incentive for a speedy recovery, but there was one problem. Even though he had just had a surgery of the intestines, Singh decided to eat some parathas. When asked why he had chosen something so difficult to digest, Singh smiled and said: "What could I do? Raveena Tandon had made these specially for me."