UP elections have not only decimated Mayawati but also our own Jayaprada. The actress-turned-politician and MP from Rampur, along with her mentor Amar Singh, was humiliated in the polls, for which results were declared on Tuesday.
The duo formed Rashtriya Lok Manch Party after their split with Samajwadi Party in 2010 and fielded candidates in as many as 360 seats.
Amar Singh put the entire task of running the election campaign in the hands of Jayaprada,who toured across the state and campaigned for their new party. In several interviews, Jayaprada vowed to defeat Mulayam Singh Yadav and his party at the hustings. But despite her strenuous efforts, Rashtriya Lok Manch drew a blank in the elections.
This is indeed a tough time for the Rajahmundry girl, who made it big in Telugu as well as Hindi films, before foraying into politics. Chandrababu Naidu made her Rajya Sabha Member but later, she fell out with him and joined hands with Amar Singh, who then was calling the shots in SP.
He groomed her in UP politics and gave her Rampur ticket in 2004, which she won comfortably despite her language problems.
Amar’s spat with Mulayam over allotting Rampur once again in 2009 polls, when the latter wanted the ticket for Azam Khan, is well known. She won the seat the second time, but things were no more rosy for her and her mentor in SP.
Throughout, Jaya stood by Amar. But now with Amar’s health declining and her future political career in serious trouble, what course Jaya would opt for in the coming months would be interesting to watch.
