Former Jammu and Kashmir minister Lal Singh rejoins Congress

Lal Singh started his political career as a student leader

New Delhi:

Former MP and Jammu and Kashmir Minister Lal Singh on Wednesday rejoined the Congress in the presence of senior party leaders.

He also announced the merger of his organization Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP) with the Congress party.

Lal Singh is the founder chairperson of DSSP while his wife Kanta Andotra (former MP) serves as the chairperson.

Lal Singh was a two-time former MP from Udhampur. He served as Health Minister and Forest Minister of Jammu and Kashmir. Lal Singh represents Basoli in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

While the Congress welcomes Lal Singh’s return to the party which will give a boost to the party in Udhampur, several leaders including former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Questions have been raised about the grand old party’s embrace of Singh, who, he claimed, supported the alleged Kathua rape case in the past.

Lal Singh (65) from Kathua district rejoined the Congress at the party headquarters amid speculation that he will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls against Union Minister Jiten from Udhampur Jitendra Singh vs.

Udhampur will go to polls on April 19.

Lal Singh started his political career as a student leader and was elected as MLA from Basholi constituency in the 1996 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. In 2002, he was re-elected as a provincial councilor.

When the Congress-People’s Democratic Party alliance came to power in Jammu and Kashmir, he was appointed Minister for Health and Medical Education in the Jammu and Kashmir Cabinet. Thereafter, he was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha from Udhampur in 2004. In 2009, Lal Singh was re-elected as a member of the same constituency in the 15th Lok Sabha.

In August 2014, he parted ways with the Congress after being rejected in the Lok Sabha polls and formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of then-BJP president Amit Shah at Kathua. Lal Singh resigned as a cabinet minister in 2018 and quit the BJP, later launching the DSSP.

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