New Delhi, Dec 18: Sunday appears to be lucky for RLD chief Ajit Singh, who made it to the Union Cabinet for the fourth time today.
Singh was sworn-in as minister in the BJP-led NDA government on July 22, 2001, which also was a Sunday.
The RLD chief had joined the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's cabinet as Agriculture Minister on the eve of the Monsoon Session of Parliament soon after Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress had parted ways with the NDA.
Incidentally, Singh had joined the NDA ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections.
“We will sweep the Assembly elections in western Uttar Pradesh,” Singh had said after the swearing-in ceremony in 2001.
“The actual contest in this part of the State will be between the NDA and the Bahujan Samaj Party,” he had said.
Rashtriya Lok Dal had contested the 2009 Lok Sabha elections under the NDA alliance.
Attendance was thin today at the majestic Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhawan where Singh was sworn-in as a Cabinet Minister by President Pratibha Patil.
After taking oath, Singh said the people of UP have got a “clear-cut alternative” to the “oppressive” regime of Mayawati-led BSP in the form of alliance of his party and the Congress.
“Our mind now is on Uttar Pradesh. People of UP have now got a clear-cut alternative,” Singh told reporters soon after taking oath of office.
The RLD chief said the “wave” generated in UP due to the Congress-RLD alliance will be felt across the country.
