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Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri during his Tuesday's visit to Barmer in Rajasthan met the family members of former Union minister Jaswant Singh, triggering speculations in political circles about the reforming of old equations.
Jaswant Singh was the senior cabinet minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. However, his relations with the BJP turned sour when he was denied ticket by the party in 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In 2014, he contested from Barmer constituency as an independent candidate and lost the election. Soon after the polls, the former Union minister met with an accident in August 2014 and had remained unwell since then. Later, he passed away in 2020 after a prolonged illness. Jaswant Singh was expelled from the BJP in 2009 when his book 'Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence' was published, in which he reportedly praised the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. He and his family have strong hold in their home state Rajasthan, specifically in Jodhpur, Barmer and Jaisalmer. The 82-year-old leader had a political career that lasted for more than three decades in which he held several porfolios, including Defence and External Affairs among others. His son Manvendra Singh joined the Congress in 2018 as his relations with the saffron party continued to remain sour. However, in between, discussions of his 'Ghar Wapasi' to BJP continued making rounds. Sources say that the current state BJP leadership has good relations with Jaswant Singh's family. But, the Congress settled things by giving Manvendra a political appointment. Now, after Puri's meeting with Jaswant Singh's family, speculations are again making rounds. "Puri is one of loyalists of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and if he visit Jaswant Singh's family, it means that the old stalwart of the saffron party is being missed," a party worker said. While on the other hand, another worker claimed that Puri had cordial relations with Jaswant Singh and "so it was like old family friends meeting". Amidst all the theories, political factors could not be ruled out completely as the state set to go for the Assembly polls this year and Manvendra has a significant hold in western part of the state. Sharing a photo of his family with Puri, Manvendra tweeted: "Today, Honourable Union Housing and Urban Affairs and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Shri Hardeep Singh Puri ji came to Jodhpur farm house and inquired about their (family's) well-being and met the family." "Today you came, the memories of love and relationships of so many years got refreshed. With the grace of Maa Bhagwati, the love should always remain like this," he said tagging Puri. --IANS arc/sha ( 450 Words) 2023-02-22-21:56:02 (IANS)
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