Gurugram: Of the 72 ministers inducted into Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new government Sunday, one minister’s supporters are noticeably not celebrating. No sweets are being distributed, no congratulatory messages exchanged, and no pamphlets marking the occasion.
Supporters of Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh, a six-time Member of Parliament, are disappointed with his appointment as minister of state (MoS), independent charge. They were expecting their leader, who first became an MoS in 2004, to be elevated to a cabinet rank this time.
Singh, 74, won the Gurgaon parliamentary seat for the fourth consecutive time this Lok Sabha election, having previously been elected as MP from the Mahendragarh seat in 1998 and 2004 before delimitation of the constituencies effected in 2008. Additionally, he served as MLA from Jatusana assembly constituency in 1977, 1982, 1991, and 2000, and was a Haryana cabinet minister from 1991 to 1996.
“We are not celebrating Rao saab’s induction in the Modi 3.0 ministry at all this time. I am sitting at my residence in Rewari now, and my workers are coming to express their disappointment,” said Sunil Yadav Musepur, a dedicated supporter of Rao, who unsuccessfully contested the assembly election from Rewari seat on a BJP ticket in the 2019 assembly elections, losing to Chiranjeev Rao of the Congress by a narrow margin of 1,317 votes.
Speaking to ThePrint Monday, Musepur said Rao Inderjit Singh, a prominent Ahir leader, has been in electoral politics for the past 47 years, during which he has won 10 parliamentary and assembly elections. “He was 27 when he won his first election from the Jatusana assembly seat in 1977. He is 74 now. He was responsible for the victory of two MPs, as he won his own seat and helped Dharambir Singh win the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat by ensuring his victory in four assembly segments of the Ahirwal region.”
According to Musepur, in the 2019 elections, Rao Inderjit Singh helped the BJP win three seats — Gurgaon, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh and Rohtak. He said had it not been for the BJP candidate’s huge lead of nearly 74,000 votes in Ahir-dominated Kosli (an assembly segment falling under Rohtak LS seat) in 2019, the Congress’s Deepender Hooda would have definitely won the seat. “But this is what the BJP has given in return. Many MPs who were not even born when Rao Inderjit Singh started winning elections have been made cabinet ministers while Rao remains an MoS after 20 years,” he added.
Musepur further said it was like Hobson’s choice for Singh who quit the Congress in 2014 over differences and now faces the same treatment in the BJP.
Musepur claimed that Rao Inderjit Singh wields influence over more than 20 assembly seats in Haryana. “He helped the Congress form government in 1991 (Bhajan Lal) and 2005 (Bhupinder Singh Hooda) by ensuring the party’s victory in these 20 seats. However, when he joined BJP in 2014, he was assured that the party would give him the respect he deserved.”
He added: “If Manohar Lal Khattar could become CM in 2014 and 2019, it was because of the party’s victory in the Ahirwal and Gurugram regions. Nevertheless, the BJP made him (Rao Inderjit) MoS in 2014 and 2019. This time, we all expected that he would get a cabinet rank, but that was not to be.”
Vimal Yadav, ex-mayor of Gurugram, too said that Singh’s supporters were eagerly awaiting his elevation to the rank of cabinet minister this time, and were saddened to see him inducted as an MoS. “Rao Inderjit Singh is a grounded politician and maintains a connection with ordinary people. He is an honest politician and deserved to be included in the Union cabinet or made the CM for the betterment of the State,” he added.
Mahesh Vaidya, a political analyst from Rewari, told ThePrint that Rao Inderjit Singh wields influence over 11 assembly seats in Haryana — Gurugram, Badshahpur, Sohna, and Pataudi in Gurugram district; Rewari, Bawal, and Ateli in Rewari district; and Narnaul, Mahendragarh, Kosli and Nangal Chaudhary in Mahendragarh district. Of these, eight of these seats are currently with the BJP. In 2014, the BJP won all 11 seats. The Haryana assembly elections are slated to take place later this year.
“The disappointment among Rao’s supporters isn’t without reason. After failing to get a cabinet rank in 2014 and 2019, his supporters were confident that he would achieve it this time for sure. But Sunday’s swearing-in ceremony has left them disappointed,” said Vaidya.
State BJP spokesperson Sanjay Sharma however said that the induction of a leader into the cabinet and portfolio distribution are entirely the prerogatives of the prime minister.
“Rao Inderjit Singh is one of the most respected leaders of the BJP in Haryana. I can’t comment on what lies entirely in the PM’s domain. However, I would like to tell Rao’s supporters that they must understand that this time the PM is heading a coalition government and there are several pulls and pushes of a coalition,” Sharma added.
Who is Rao Inderjit Singh?
Rao Inderjit Singh is a scion of the erstwhile princely state of Rewari and a descendant of Rao Tula Ram (1825-1863), a Yaduwanshi Ahir king and freedom fighter. His father, Rao Birender Singh, was the second chief minister of Haryana.
Singh served as minister of state (independent charge) for food and civil supplies in Bansi Lal’s Haryana government from 1986 to 1987, and as a cabinet minister for environment and forests, and medical and technical education in Bhajan Lal’s government from 1991 to 1996. He was MoS for external affairs and defence production in the Manmohan Singh 1.0 cabinet from 2004 to 2009; MoS (independent charge) for planning, statistics and programme implementation, and defence production in Modi 1.0 from 2014 to 2019; and MoS (independent charge) for statistics and programme implementation, and planning from 2019 to 2024.
Born on 11 February, 1950, Rao Inderjit Singh attended the Lawrence School, Sanawar (HP), earned a BA (Hons) degree from Hindu College, Delhi, and an LLB from the Law Faculty, Delhi University. According to the book Ruling Dynasties of Independent India by Ravindra Padalkar, Singh was a member of the Indian shooting team from 1990 to 2003, winning a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Shooting Championship and three gold medals in the South Asian Federation (SAF) Games.
During his last term as a Congress MP from 2009 to 2014, Singh’s relations with then Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Hooda were strained. He accused Hooda of regional discrimination in development matters, alleging that Hooda focused on developing his own constituency, Rohtak, at the expense of the rest of Haryana. He resigned from the Congress in September 2013.
Singh is now grooming his daughter, Aarti Rao, as his successor in politics.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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