Panchayat poll results show farm protests have no impact in western UP: BJP prokerala.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from prokerala.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Ajit Singh, a technocrat-politician, leaves behind a chequered legacy
By M Somasekhar| Updated: 6th May 2021 10:16 pm IST Former Union Minister and RLD Chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh
M Somasekhar
It was during the 1998 elections to the Lok Sabha that I had a chance to visit Baghpat, just around a two hour drive out of the bustling national capital Delhi.
Located in Western Uttar Pradesh, Baghpat was the citadel of Chaudhury Charan Singh, briefly the Prime Minister, but a tall leader of the farmers, specially the Jats, an influential farming community in North India.
The star attraction was to cover Ajit Singh, the Chief of Lok Dal then and later the Rastriya Lok Dal (RLD), his contribution to Baghpat and prospects of winning the election against a strong, local, BJP candidate, Sompal Shastri, who later became Union Agriculture Minister .