A renowned leader of the peasents in western Uttar Pradesh, an American returned IIT Alumni, union minister in several central governments under various prime ministers and founder chief of Rashtriya Lok Dal Ajit Singh too succumbed to dreaded Covid 19 pandemic in a Gurugram hospital this morning at the age of 82, fiercely battling for life.
After the death of his father, a prominent Kisan leader and prime minister for merely three months during Janata regime after prime minister Morarji Desai, Choudhary Charan Singh, 1939 Baghpat born Ajit Singh had to return back to India to take over the political reigns of his late father thus giving up his career as a computer engineer and joining active politics.
Known for usually changing sides to become union minister in almost every government Choudhary Ajit Singh never lost from Baghpat except at the hands of BJP’s Sompal Sharma further losing the traditional seat to former Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh of the saffron party.
The information about the sad demise of his father was revealed by his MP son Jayant Choudhary who is currently the chief of Rashtriya Lok Dal as well by posting a message in his twitter handle.
The message read : Choudhary Ajit Singhji was diagnosed with Covid 19 on the 20 th April. He battled his condition till the very end and breathed his last today morning on 6 th May, 2020. He added : Throughout his life journey , Choudhary Sahab was loved and respected by many. He in turn cherished this bond with all of you and gave his best consideration and efforts for your welfare.
While appealing all to maintain Covid 19 norms strictly n stay indoors he also extended his respects n tributes to those who’d succumbed during pandemic times by ending the message thus : We pray for the solace of all those families that has been ravaged by this brutal disease. It may be recalled that :
Ajit Singh was first elected to Rajya Sabha (the upper house of Indian Parliament) in 1986 after his father and former prime minister Charan Singh became ill.
He was the President of Lok Dal (A) and Janata Party during 1987 and 1988, respectively. In 1989, he was General Secretary of Janata Dal after all the parties decided to merge under the leadership of VP Singh to take on the congress.
Ajit Singh brought in most political strength from Uttar Pradesh to VP Singh during that election. At several occasions throughout his political career, Ajit Singh has been a significant political figure in government formations as well as alliances.
He was elected to Lok Sabha (the lower house of Indian Parliament) from Baghpat in 1989. He was Minister of Industry in V. P. Singh’s cabinet from December 1989 to November 1990. He was re-elected to Lok Sabha in 1991 Indian general election. He served as Minister of Food in P. V. Narasimha Rao’s cabinet.
Ajit Singh was re-elected in 1996 as a Congress candidate but resigned from the party and Lok Sabha in 1996. He then founded Rashtriya Lok Dal and was re-elected in 1997 by election. He lost the 1998 election and was re-elected in 1999, 2004 and 2009.
From 2001 to 2003, he was Minister of Agriculture in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government.
After his party joined the ruling United Progressive Alliance in 2011, he was Minister of Civil Aviation from December 2011 to May 2014.
He was the candidate of Muzaffarnagar from RLD and he lost to Sanjeev Balyan of BJP by a margin of 6526 votes.
