Former Governor of Rajasthan and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Kalyan Singh rejoined active politics and took fresh membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Lucknow on Monday. 

After rejoining the BJP, Singh said that he was ready to work as per the directives of the party brass.

BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh handed over the party membership to the senior leader and welcomed him into the party fold.

“The rejoining of a senior leader like Kalyan Singh will boost the party’s base,” the BJP state chief said after garlanding Kalyan Singh at a function in Lucknow.

In his brief interaction with the media, Kalyan Singh said that he was a disciplined party worker and would work as per the directive of the leadership. 

“Though age is not on my side, still I will do whatever the party directs me to do,” he said.

Senior BJP leaders, including former Union minister Shiv Pratap Shukla and Kalyan’s parliamentarian son Rajveer Singh, were among those present on the occasion. 

Kalyan Singh will reside with his grandson and UP minister Sandeep Singh, who has been allotted the bungalow where Kalyan stayed as the chief minister of UP.

Earlier, Kalyan Singh was given a rousing reception at Chaudhary Charan Singh airport in Lucknow on his arrival from Jaipur. 

Before flying for Lucknow, Kalyan Singh attended the oath ceremony of Kalraj Mishra, who succeeded him as the Governor of Rajasthan.

A two-time chief minister of UP, Kalyan Singh (87) is a tall Lodh leader of the state and his son is currently BJP MP from Etah while his grandson Sandeep Singh is a minister in the Yogi government.

Singh, who was chief minister of UP when Babri mosque was razed in Ayodhya in 1992, was also accused in the demolition of the mosque along with BJP veterans Lal Krishna Advani, Uma Bharti and Murli Manohar Joshi.

A firebrand Hindutva leader and prominent face of Ram temple movement, Singh’s rejoining the BJP and return to active politics is being seen by political analysts as yet another push by the BJP to further its Ram temple agenda ahead of 2022 UP Assembly polls.

Also, his return might help the party in wooing the OBCs, especially Lodhi community, in the upcoming by-polls to 12 Assembly seats.