MP: Congress expels ex-MLA Laxman Singh for 6 years for ‘anti-party activities’
Unlike brother Digvijaya, who has always positioned himself as a party loyalist, Laxman has switched between Congress and BJP and often made controversial remarks
The Congress has expelled former Madhya Pradesh MLA Laxman Singh from primary membership of the party for six years for “anti-party activities”.
Laxman Singh is the brother of senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh.
Congress statement
“Congress president has expelled Laxman Singh, former MLA, Madhya Pradesh, from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress for a period of six years with immediate effect due to his anti-party activities,” Tariq Anwar, member secretary of the Congress’s Disciplinary Action Committee, said in a statement on Wednesday (June 11).
The statement did not elaborate the “anti-party activities” based on which it had acted against Singh. But he is known for making controversial remarks, often against the Congress leadership.
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Controversial remarks
During a public event last month, Singh had claimed that Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is in cahoots with Pakistani terrorists and that the Congress should break its alliance with the National Conference.
The former five-term Lok Sabha MP from Rajgarh had also criticized Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and his brother-in-law Robert Vadra and asked the duo to “speak less and with responsibility”.
The state PCC had made a recommendation to the Congress leadership for initiating action against him for his alleged anti-party activities and the matter was sent to the Disciplinary Action Committee of the AICC.
Brothers on different paths
Singh has been a five-time MP and three-time MLA from Madhya Pradesh. He was first elected to the state legislature in 1990. He became an MP for the first time in 1994 from Rajgarh.
Unlike his brother Digvijaya, who has always positioned himself as a loyalist of the party and the Nehru-Gandhi family, Laxman Singh has switched between the Congress and the BJP.
After representing Rajgarh in Lok Sabha for four terms and having also previously served as a Congress MLA in MP, Laxman had switched to the BJP in late 2003, soon after his brother led the Congress to its most crippling defeat till date in the Assembly polls.
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Post-defeat defiance
Laxman retained the Rajgarh seat as a BJP candidate in the 2004 elections but lost it to Congress nominee and Digvijaya loyalist Narayan Singh Amlabe in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. He returned to the Congress four years later, in 2013.
In the 2018 MP assembly polls, Laxman won the Chachoura seat, defeating the BJP’s Mamata Meena by a slender margin of just over 9,500 votes. He sought re-election as MLA from Chachoura in the 2023 assembly polls but was defeated by the BJP’s Priyanka Meena with a big margin of over 60,000 votes.
Since then, Laxman has frequently been critical of the Congress leadership, both as the state and central level.
(With additional inputs from agencies)