Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh or R. P. N. Singh (born 25 April 1964), is an Indian politician and former Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs. He was the Member of Parliament for Kushinagar constituency in the fifteenth Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2014. In the 2014 General Election, despite an increase in his own votes, he was defeated by Rajesh Pandey (BJP). He lost again in 2019. In September 2020, Singh was chosen for AICC in charge of Jharkhand[1] and Chhattisgarh.[2]
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He resigned from Congress in January 2022 and joined the BJP, a month ahead of 2022 UP Elections,[3] thus becoming the fourth prominent Doon School alumnus to leave the Congress Party to join hands with the BJP, following Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada and Amarinder Singh.[4]
Personal life
editR.P.N. Singh hails from a Sainthwar royal family[5] of Kushinagar (Padrauna), Uttar Pradesh and is a Sainthwar leader from eastern Uttar Pradesh. He comes from a royal family of Padrauna.[6] He attended The Doon School,[7] an institution which has had historic links with Congress since the Rajiv Gandhi 'Doon Cabinet' era, and given Rahul Gandhi's own schooling at Doon.[8][9] From 2014 to 2018, he served as the president of Doon's alumni body The Doon School Old Boys' Society.[10]
He was married on 7 December 2002 to Sonia Singh (nee Sonia Singh, anchor and editorial director at NDTV), and has three daughters. He currently resides in the Palace, Padrauna, Kushinagar, Uttar Pradesh, India. His father, Late C.P.N. Singh, was also MP of Kushinagar (then Hata) and a Minister of State for Defence in the Indira Gandhi cabinet in 1980.
R.P.N. Singh was elected MLA from the seat of Padrauna in 1996, 2002, and 2007. In 2009 he was elected to the Lok Sabha. He lost the Lok Sabha election from the Kushinagar seat in 2014 and 2019. Now he has been declared BJP candidate from Uttar Pradesh for Member of Parliament Rajya Sabha.
Positions held
edit- M.L.A. (Uttar Pradesh), 1996-2009
- President, Uttar Pradesh Youth Congress, 1997-1999
- Secretary, AICC, 2003-2006
- Elected to the 15th Lok Sabha from the Padrauna constituency, 2009[11]
- Union Minister of State, Road, Transport and Highways, 2009-2011[12]
- Union Minister of State, Petroleum and Natural Gas and Corporate Affairs, 2011-2013
- Union Minister of state for Home Affairs 2013-2014[13]
- President, The Doon School Old Boys' Society, 2014–2016
References
edit- ^ "RPN Singh retains JPCC in-charge post". The Pioneer. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
- ^ "PL Puniya, RPN Singh get charge of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh". The Economic Times. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
- ^ "Another Senior Congress Exit: RPN Singh Joins BJP Ahead of UP Election".
- ^ TNI Team (26 January 2022). "4th Big Exit In 4 Years: Once MoS in UPA, Rahul Aide & Cong's RPN Singh Joins BJP". The New Indian. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
- ^ "Battles 'Royal' in Hindi heartland | Lucknow News - Times of India". The Times of India. 13 March 2009.
- ^ "How RPN Singh fits into BJP's OBC plan in UP - Times of India". The Times of India.
- ^ Indianexpress.com : comments : Doon squad Archived 28 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Seven Doscos in 15th Lok Sabha". 31 May 2009.
- ^ Steven R. Weisman (20 April 1986). "THE RAJIV GENERATION - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
- ^ Meat exporter Qureshi quits Doon School alumni body | The Indian Express
- ^ "Nervous moments for freshers at oath-taking ceremony". The Indian Express. 28 May 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
- ^ "Massive road communication programme proposed: Minister". Daily News & Analysis. 14 October 2009. Retrieved 31 March 2011.
- ^ "Cabinet reshuffle: Congress chooses tokenism over efficiency". First Post (India). 28 October 2012. Retrieved 28 October 2012.