Ambani’s business interests might see him stay with the SP even as he keeps his friendship with Amar Singh. But for the Bachchans, the choice is clear.
Amar Singh, Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Ambani didn’t just form the public face of the Samajwadi Party (SP), but in the early 2000s brought together politics, Bollywood and industry like little else had before. The three were inseparable, travelling to Tirupati in one another’s company and attending parties together.
But with Singh looking to life beyond the SP, it appears that Bachchan and Ambani might have to make some hard choices on whose side they want to be.
If sources in the SP are to be believed, it is almost certain that Bachchan, along with wife Jaya (who is a Rajya Sabha member, winning the election on the SP’s backing) will side with Singh “given their dependence on him”. So will most of the Bollywood flock, such as Jaya Prada, Sanjay Dutt, and Manoj Tiwari. Dutt has already announced his resignation as party general secretary following Singh’s resignation from all party posts.
But the sources believe that given Ambani’s business interests in Uttar Pradesh, where he is seeking to set up a massive thermal power station at Dadri, he might prefer to stay loyal to the SP and its chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
However, his long and close friendship with Amar Singh is also expected to continue.
“Industrialists have their own equations with us,” said a senior SP leader, adding, “the party supports them in a big way and corporate bigwigs need our backing. They cannot afford to annoy the whole party just for a single individual.”
The SP leaders give the example of Subroto Ray, the chief of the Sahara conglomerate, who was at one time also very close to Amar Singh, and even formed a quartet alongside Amar, Amitabh and Anil. Even after Roy had a major falling out with Amar Singh, he retains his links with the SP and its top leadership.
Meanwhile, despite Mulayam Singh’s protestations that he is not accepting Amar Singh’s resignations, the rest of the party has begun to prepare for a future without him. Some have also started to speak out against Amar Singh.
Former SP MP Mohan Singh accused Amar Singh of trying to harm the party by deliberately announcing his resignation from party posts on January 6, just a day ahead of the elections to the legislative council elections in Uttar Pradesh.
A member of the SP parliamentary board, Mohan Singh said Amar Singh had achieved fame and glory only because he was a part of the SP. “No other party would have given him the kind of responsibilities that the SP gave him. It is highly immoral of him to say that the (Yadav) family controls everything in the party or to blame the electoral defeats on the party’s style of functioning. And if what he says is true, then Amar Singh, who has been a member for 15 years, is also responsible for the defeat,” he said.
With senior leaders speaking out against Amar Singh, Yadav may find it difficult to go against the grain. Many such leaders also see the loss of the Bollywood jetset as the icing on the cake. “The Bollywood brigade was a part of Amar Singh’s coterie. If the stars go away, it will help us reconnect with our support base amongst the masses,” said a veteran party leader.
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