Subramanian Swamy condoles Amar Singh's demise; praises his cross-party friendships

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has condoled the demise of Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh who passed away on Saturday in a hospital in Singapore. Remembering the late Samajwadi Party (SP) leader, Swamy said that Singh made friends across the spectrum of political parties. Amar Singh, who had been ailing at a hospital in Singapore, died after prolonged treatment of six months on August 1, 2020. The 64-year-old had earlier undergone a kidney transplant in 2013.

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PM Modi, President Kovind offer condolences 

Condoling the loss of Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Saturday, tweeted that Singh was an energetic public figure, which had witnessed some of the major political developments from close quarters. Lauding Singh's friendships across many spheres of life, PM Modi shared his condolences with Singh's family and friends. President Ram Nath Kovind too shared his condolences at the loss of 'an able parliamentarian'.

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Amar Singh's political career

Singh himself was elected to the Rajya Sabha four times - in 1996, 2002,2008 and 2016.  He held several posts on several parliamentary commissions since then but was most known as SP's go-to man for swinging political support to SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in Delhi. However, his relations with Akhilesh were strained over the last few years.

He shot to fame when he saved the UPA-1 government by pledging support of 39 MPs when it was reduced to a minority as CPI withdrew its support to the coalition over the proposed Nuclear Accord with the United States. Moreover, Singh had also managed to talk Mulayam Singh Yadav against supporting UPA-1's coalition in the beginning when Dr Manmohan Singh had been named Prime Minister. 

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