Why Amar Singh has no takers today

The Congress seems to have decisively shut its doors for Amar Singh, who was expelled by the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday along with Lok Sabha Member of Parliament Jaya Prada.

"The Congress is not a dustbin," shot back All India Congress Committee functionary Satyavrat Chaturvedi, when queried about the possibility of Singh joining Congress.

Chaturvedi's hard-hitting comment isn't his first against Singh; he had earlier stated that the former SP general secretary needed 'mental treatment'.

When asked about Amar Singh's political future, Chaturvedi replied cryptically, "Is he a political man? He doesn't have a political past or a political future".

Another senior Congress leader, who did not wish to be named, said that the Congress had decided that Singh would be a liability, rather than an asset, for the Uttar Pradesh polls in 2012.

He added that the Congress had been content with Singh being in the SP, as he was openly defying party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, and would have no problems if the disgruntled leader joined the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Singh's political maneuvers made no difference to the Congress, said the leader, as the party had already decided to fight the UP assembly elections alone.

Congress leaders also believe that Singh's expulsion will benefit the SP and Mulayam in the long run, as the latter will now woo back the many leaders who had left the party due to their differences with Singh.

Singh had reportedly approached senior Congress leaders for a meeting with president Sonia Gandhi soon after Mulayam Singh accepted his resignation, but the meeting never materialised.

At that time, when asked whether there was any chance of Singh joining the Congress, All India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh had retorted, "Let him first apply, and then we will see,"

According to the Congress' protocol, when a MP or former MP seeks to join the party, the matter is forwarded to the Congress president, who takes her decision after due consultations with the general secretary.

It is an open secret that 10 Janpath (Gandhi's official residence) has had an uneasy relationship with Singh over the last few years, with Gandhi neither politically courting him nor encouraging him.

This task was given to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who needed Singh and the SP to save the United Progressive Alliance government, during the trust vote in the Parliament over the India-United States nuclear deal.

It is a little known fact that Gandhi was the reason Amar Singh left the Congress and joined the SP. He has repeatedly asked Gandhi for an appointment, and when his request was greeted by a deafening silence, a peeved Singh decided to walk out of the Congress.

Jaya Bachchan, who is considered to be extremely close to Singh, has decided against resigning from the party. Bachchan, a Rajya Sabha member of SP, has refrained from openly supporting Singh, but has stated that he is 'family' for her.

Any party which considers inviting Singh might also have to accommodate the two 'Jayas' along with him.

But so far, the political landscape seems bleak for the man who redefined political activism, with crutches like Bollywood on one side and corporate India on the other.

That is a heady combination by any standards, and one which Mulayam Singh could not resist. But given the downhill slide of the once-powerful Samajwadi Party, most political parties appear to be shying away from Amar Singh today.