New Delhi, 20-03-2024: Former Member of Parliament and Jammu and Kashmir minister Choudhary Lal Singh has officially rejoined the Congress party, marking his return to its fold in the presence of senior party leaders. Additionally, he announced the merger of his political outfit, the Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP), with the Congress.
Lal Singh, a two-time former MP from Udhampur and a prominent political figure in the region had previously held ministerial positions in the state government, including health minister and forest minister. Representing Basohli constituency in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, Singh’s return to the Congress is seen as a significant development that could bolster the party’s prospects in Udhampur. However, his re-entry into the party has sparked controversy, with some leaders, including former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, criticizing the decision due to Lal Singh’s past support for individuals accused in the Kathua rape case.
Despite this, Singh’s return to the Congress headquarters has raised speculation that he may contest against Union Minister Jitendra Singh from Udhampur in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections scheduled for April 19. With a political career spanning several decades, Lal Singh began as a student leader and later served as an MLA from the Basholi constituency in the 1996 Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections.
He was re-elected in 2002 and subsequently became a cabinet minister under the Congress-PDP coalition government. Lal Singh’s journey also includes stints as a Member of Parliament, initially elected in the 14th Lok Sabha in 2004 and re-elected in the 15th Lok Sabha in 2009. However, he parted ways with the Congress in 2014 after being denied a Lok Sabha ticket and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before later resigning from the cabinet and launching his own political outfit, the DSSP.