The Congress on Tuesday suffered another jolt in Uttar Pradesh when its three-time MP from Pratapgarh, Ratna Singh joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of chief minister Yogi Adityanath. Ratna Singh comes from a family which has had a very long association with the Congress party. Her father Dinesh Singh had served in the Congress government in various capacities such as Minister of External Affairs, Minister of Commerce, Minister of Industrial Development and Internal Trade.
Ratna Singh was elected thrice — 1996, 1999 and 2009 — from Pratapgarh district on Congress ticket. Her decision to quit Congress will further dampen the Congress’ spirits and that of its general secretary Priyanka Gandhi who is determined to revive the grand old party in the state ahead of the next assembly elections.
Ratna Singh’s resignation comes just months after another royal family member from Amethi Sanjay Sinh and her wife Ameeta Singh resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP. Sanjay Sinh had been with the Congress since 1984. After resigning from the party, he had said that his decision to quit won’t impact Congress in any way. “However, whatever has happened in Congress in 15 years hasn’t happened before. I took this decision after thinking a lot about it,” he had said.
Pratapgarh shares border with Amethi which was the pocket borough of Congress for decades. But in 2019, BJP’s Smriti Irani snatched this traditional seat from Congress by defeating Rahul Gandhi in her second attempt. With Amethi going to BJP, Raebareli is the only Lok Sabha seat which the Congress managed to bag in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Congress does not have it going smooth here either as its MLA Aditi Singh has been taking a stand against the patry’s wishes. Just this month, the Congress served her a show-cause notice for attending the state government’s programme organised to celebrate Gandhi’s 150th Birth Anniversary. The Congress had boycotted the event.