Jagat Singh joins BSP, appointed state party VP

Soon after he joined the BSP along with a large number of supporters on Saturday, Jagat Singh, son of former External Affairs minister Natwar Singh, was appointed the vice-president of the party's Rajasthan unit.

Jagat Singh, a sitting MLA from Laxman Garh, was expelled from the Congress two years ago for his involvement in anti-party activities.

After joining the BSP in the presence of its state president Ashok Dharamvir and Choudhary Rajpal Yadav, a UP MLA, Jagat Singh told the media that his father Natwar Singh, who had left the Congress, would also join the BSP shortly.

Parleys with the BSP about his joining the party had been going on for quite some time, Jagat Singh said and claimed that his entry into the party would have an impact on Jat politics in the state.

"The Jats are unhappy with the Congress since Ashok Gehlot was made the Chief Minister in 1999 instead of a leader from their community and also with BJP for not honouring its commitments announced during the last assembly elections", he said.

The BSP would contest all the 200 seats in the state in the forthcoming assembly election for which names of 122 nominees have already been finalised, the state BSP president said, adding that the names of the candidates would be announced on the Independence day.

Those who joined the BSP along with Jagat Singh included a former BJP minister Sashi Datta, a former MLA Yeshawant Singh Ramu, Neeta Yadav, a pradhan of Mohana Jhunjhunu, 45 Zila Parishad members of Alwar, Bharatpur and sixty Panchayat Samiti members.