IAS Officer Turned Politician, R K Singh Seeks A Third Term From Bihar's Arrah (image@RajKSinghIndia)
RK Singh is confident in winning the Arrah seat for a third consecutive term during the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The Union Minister is contesting against CPI (ML) (Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) candidate Sudama Prasad. RK Singh has been serving as the Arrah MP since 2014.
The IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer-turned-politician is serving as the Minister of Power and Minister of Renewable Energy in the Union Government. He also serves as the Minister of State in the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
Singh”s relation with the BJP and the RSS always tend to grab headlines, even before he joining the party. RK Singh caught national attention for arresting BJP veteran leader LK Advani during his Rath Yatra in 1990, while former was the district magistrate of Samastipur. While serving as the Union Home Secretary (during the tenure of Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister), Singh released names of RSS members who were allegedly linked to the Hindu extremist group and are responsible for blasts on Samjhauta Express and in Malegaon, Maharashtra. He served as the Union Home Secretary from 2011 to 2013. After retiring from his position, he joined BJP.
It was during his tenure as the Union Home Secretary, the 26/11 Mumbai attack convict Ajmal Kasab and Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was hanged. Though he got along well with the then Home Minister P Chidambaram, Singh criticised Chidambaram for his remark that Afzal Guru”s case “was perhaps not correctly decided”. He also accused Chidambaram for his political interference in changing the affidavit in Ishrat Jahan encounter case.
Singh joined BJP in 2013. Reportedly, the 1975 batch Bihar-cadre IAS officer was offered ticket to contest 2014 Lok Sabha election by the JDU leader Nitish Kumar. However, Singh declined the offer and joined BJP claiming that BJP is the “only party that will not compromise with national security”.
During the 2014 general election, he defeated RJD candidate Sribhagwan Singh Kushwaha over a whopping margin of 1,35,000 votes. In 2019 general election, he retained the seat by defeating CPI (ML) Liberation”s Raju Yadav by a margin of 1,47,285 votes.
