Hours after PM Narendra Modi named him in his speech, Amar Singh meets Adityanath; rumour mills abuzz

During his speech in Lucknow, PM Modi made a sly reference to Amar Singh who was seen sitting in the crowd.

LUCKNOW: Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned Amar Singh's name during his speech at an event in Lucknow, the veteran politician reached the Chief Minister's house to meet Yogi Adityanath. Amar Singh was reportedly seated in the audience at the function on Sunday.

During his speech after he inaugurated 81 projects worth Rs 60,000 in Uttar Pradesh, the PM slammed the opposition parties for targetting him for getting clicked with industrialists. "Public mey milna nahi, parde ke peeche sab kuch karna hai. Woh dartey rahtey hain, (Those who do not meet publicly and do everything behind curtains remain scared," he said. 

While making his point, he made a sly reference to Amar Singh who was seen sitting in the crowd and said: "Amar Singh, former SP leader, is sitting here and he can give you all the details." 

"Should we insult them (industrialists and businessmen) by labelling them as 'chor' and 'luterey'. What is this? Those who will do wrong will have to leave the country or spend life in the jail. This was not done earlier because everything was done behind curtains," he said. 

There have been rumours in the recent past of the veteran politician planning to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). His meeting with the CM earlier on Monday and on Sunday again have left political circles buzzing.

There is no official word yet on why the two leaders met and what transpired in the meeting. Singh had recently said that he was not averse to joining the BJP, but had added that he had not received any invite from it, nor had he applied for it. "The BJP is a very big political party. I won’t say that I will not join the BJP if I get a chance, but who is giving me the chance? I haven’t sent them any request letter either," Singh had said.

Singh, who was a Rajya Sabha MP from the Samajwadi Party, was expelled from the Akhilesh Yadav-led outfit last year.