Manish Singh is the son of Ashok Singh who was once a Member of Parliament (MP) from Rae Bareli. Aditi Singh's father
was the brother of Ashok Singh.
The Congress was searching for somebody in Rae Bareli to fill the vacuum created by the desertion of Aditi Singh.
In Rae Bareli, the Congress had to take the help of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to win the Lok Sabha election in 2019. It did not work in Amethi where former Congress president Rahul Gandhi lost the traditional seat, so the Congress is fortifying itself so that the party remains strong at least in the constituency of interim Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
Manish Singh told from Rae Bareli that he is joining the Congress on Wednesday. Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is on a two-day visit to Rae Bareli, will be present on the occasion.
Manish Singh has been in the BSP as per his biodata. He contested the Harchandpur Assembly election on a BSP ticket in 2017 and got about 46,000 votes but lost to Congress MLA Rakesh Singh, who has now rebelled against the Congress. His brother Dinesh Singh contested against Sonia Gandhi in the 2019 polls.
Manish Singh belongs to the same village of Laloopur from where Aditi Singh hails. Manish Singh's father Ashok Singh was MLA and twice MP from Rae Bareli.
Manish Singh said that he is not bothered about Aditi Singh's political moves. "Congress is strong in Rae Bareli and I am joining to strengthen the party."
The Congress has witnessed a series of rebellions in Rae Bareli. First Harchandpur MLA Rakesh Singh left the party and now Aditi Singh has been bypassing party directives.
Aditi Singh had met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath recently and has been provided security by the state government. She has not responded to the notice given to her by the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee.
The MLA from Rae Bareli had also missed Priyanka Gandhi's footmarch on Gandhi Jayanti. She instead attended the UP assembly session which was boycotted by the Congress party.
On her meeting with Yogi Adityanath, UPCC Chief Ajay Kumar Lallu said that those who look at their self interest do not have any ideology. "We have given notice to her if she does not reply, then we will take action", he said.
( With inputs from IANS )