Amar Singh back in SP. Why Mulayam kissed and made up

Amar Singh's political vanvas (exile) is over. Six years after the Samajwadi Party expelled him from its ranks and two years after he ceased to be a member of the Upper House, the SP has now decided to renominate him to the Rajya Sabha. The timing is significant as it comes barely months ahead of the all-important Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, scheduled for early next year.

Biennial elections for 11 Rajya Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh will be held later this month. The SP has 227 MLAs in the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly. It is poised to win six of the 11 Rajya Sabha seats. Amar Singh's return has by no means been smooth. It's an open secret that state minority affairs minister Azam Khan, Mulayam's cousin Ram Gopal Yadav and the Bachchans were opposed to it. However, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's unstinted backing tilted the balance in Amar Singh's favour.

Amar Singh plotted his return methodically. He outflanked his opponents Ram Gopal Yadav, Naresh Agarwal and Jaya Bachchan by winning over Mulayam's younger brother Shivpal Yadav and simultaneously built his bridges with chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. He tried to appease Azam Khan, his bête noire, by meeting him over a meal.

His return to the fold is beneficial both to him and Mulayam. It helps him resurrect his political career, while the SP chief can do with his networking skills and focus on his ability to attract a section of the Thakur vote and some high profile donors for the party.

What remains to be seen is the kind of role that Mulayam will assign to Amar Singh. In his earlier avatar, he was virtually the number two man in the SP and called the shots in the party, much to the annoyance of Azam khan and Ram Gopal Yadav. It remains to be seen whether he will be allowed to call the shots once again.

Mulayam will have his task cut out in balancing his relationship with the Bachchans and Amar Singh. The two parties had fallen out. While Amitabh has chosen not to speak about it in public, Jaya makes no secret of what she thinks of Amar Singh. All eyes will be on Jaya and Ram Gopal Yadav's body language once Amar Singh takes his seat on the SP benches in the Rajya Sabha.

Amar Singh wears many hats. He is a networker par excellence, a shrewd political strategist, with friends in all the right places. He is often seen in the company of the rich and the glamorous. Along with the Bachchans, Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani and Subroto Roy Sahara, he formed a powerful clique during Mulayam's reign as the Uttar Pradesh chief minister. In his previous association with Mulayam, Amar Singh introduced him not only to the world of big business and glamour, he also sought to persuade him to become a bit more systematic and structured in his functioning.

Amar Singh fell out with the Bachchans and Subroto Roy and made no secret of his angst against them, often accusing them of using and then discarding him but refrained from badmouthing the SP chief even when he was out of the party. However, he hasn't just been rewarded for his loyalty. Amar Singh is expected to help Mulayam build his bridges with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and network with other leaders at the Centre, besides helping the SP attract some Rajput votes in Uttar Pradesh.