While the RLD’s euphoria over Ajit Singh joining the Union Cabinet is yet to sink in, his longtime associate Anuradha Choudhary is “sulking” and might quit the party, sources said. Ms Choudhary is unhappy she was not made a minister of state or even given a commission chairmanship “as promised”.
It is learnt Ms Choudhary wanted an electoral tieup with the Samajwadi Party, with whose chief Mulayam Singh Yadav she is close. “She has been sulking some time, and may join either the SP or BJP soon,” a source said. She is apparently angry with Mr Ajit Singh for having simply accepted a Cabinet post for himself, instead of the RLD’s earlier demand for a Cabinet berth as well as one MoS slot.
Ms Choudhary was elected to the Lok Sabha from Kairana in 2004, and was earlier PWD minister in UP in the Mulayam Singh Yadav government. If Ms Choudhary actually quits, it could give a jolt to the fledgling RLD-Congress alliance in western UP.
Sources said Ms Choudhary is holding parleys with both the SP and BJP to strike the best deal for her followers in Muzaffarnagar and Kairana districts of western UP. It is feared she could walk away with a dozen RLD leaders.