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New Delhi: Five months after quitting BJP, former Bureaucrat-turned-politician is planning to float his own political party, with focus on “national interest” and “public interest”.
Singh, an IAS officer who rose to the rank of Union Home Secretary before joining politics and becoming a Union Minister in the Modi government, intends to rope in honest, educated and caste-free individuals in his party.
The party will focus on politics of Bihar, the 73-year-old told senior journalist Manoj Tibrewal Aakash during the popular interview series ‘The Candid Talk’. Singh, who had joined BJP after his retirement from service in 2014, quit the party in November last year after being suspended.
The former Lok Sabha member from Arra in Bihar says he was suspended for “speaking out” on certain issues after which he thought it fit to quit the BJP. “BJP suspended me because I used to speak out… But it was not the first time I spoke openly. I used to speak even when I was an MP,” he said.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi, despite my speaking out, kept me as the Power Minister for seven years, which was a great thing.” In response to another question, he said, “there was never any interference from the PMO in my ministry and I was given a free hand. Only then I could do positive work.”
He, however, refused to give much importance to BJP’s action. “I do not consider my suspension from BJP as a punishment,” he underlined. In the free-wheeling interview, Singh spoke about his association with JD(U) leader and former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as well as his government.
“His (Kumar’s) first term was fine. But in the second term, 99% ministers were engaged in corruption… You may not be indulging in corruption yourself, but if people around you are involved in corruption…. It is shame,” Singh said.
He also raised questions on BJP’s Samrat Chaudhary, the new Chief Minister of Bihar.
He remarked: “Samrat Chaudhary already does not have good reputation. What will a person who is not honest, a person who does not have good character, a person who is less educated, what idea will he have and what can he do?”
The full interview in available on Dynamite News.
Full Interview Link: The Candid Talks: RK Singh Interview
