Sanjaya Sinh

Sanjaya Sinh (born 25 September 1951), also known as Sanjay Singh, is an Indian politician and a former member of the Rajya Sabha.

Sanjay Sinh was born on 26 September 1951 in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh.

His father was Raja Rananjay Singh.

He married his first wife Garima Singh in 1973, with whom he has a son and two daughters.

He was twice elected to the Legislative Assembly of Uttar Pradesh during the 1980s and held state ministerial posts.

Singh had lent support to Sanjay Gandhi when that member of the Nehru-Gandhi family had chosen to contest the Amethi constituency in the elections of 1980.

The Amethi area has strong links to the Nehru-Gandhi family and at that time the neighbouring constituency of Rae Bareli was held by Sanjay's mother, Indira Gandhi.

He subsequently became a friend of Rajiv Gandhi, who succeeded Sanjay as the representative for Amethi.

His association with the Gandhi family "shot [him] into political limelight", according to The Times of India.

However, Singh left the Gandhi-led Indian National Congress (INC) party in 1988 and joined Janata Dal, which was led by a relative of his first wife.

Despite a general mood favouring Janata Dal, Singh's attempt to oust Rajiv Gandhi in the 1989 Indian general election did not reflect it and he was heavily defeated by the incumbent.

In 1990, he became a member of the upper house of the Parliament of India, which is known as the Rajya Sabha, and in 1998 he was elected to the lower house, called the Lok Sabha.

Singh has held various ministerial portfolios and committee positions over the years, including as Union Minister for Communications in 1991.

He obtained a decree of divorce with Garima in 1995.

However the decree was annulled by the Allahabad High Court on appeal and later by the Supreme Court of India.

He married Ameeta Singh in April 1995.

He also adopted Ameeta's daughter from her previous marriage.

A part of his education was at the city's Ranvir Rananjay Post-Graduate College and he gained an MA in Hindi and a PhD from Awadh University.

Aside from his involvement in politics, he has listed his professions as being an agriculturalist, pilot and a social worker.

He holds the rank of Major (retired) in the Indian Territorial Army and also has a private pilot's license.

He later changed his allegiance to that of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and in the 1998 Lok Sabha elections he won the Amethi constituency seat.

After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, a colleague of Gandhi in the INC, Satish Sharma, had become the Amethi representative but he neglected his constituents and caused them to flock to Singh.

Although Singh stood again as the BJP candidate in the elections of 1999, on that occasion he was faced with a challenge from the widow of Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia, who played heavily on her family's contributions to the area.

Singh lost.

He rejoined the INC in 2003, choosing to announce his move on the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi.

Subsequently, in 2009, he was successful in obtaining a second term in that house as a member of the 15th Lok Sabha representing the Sultanpur constituency of Uttar Pradesh.

He represented the state of Assam in the Rajya Sabha.

He gained a second term as a member of the lower house of the Parliament of India in the elections of 2009.

, he has represented the Sultanpur constituency as a member of the INC.

The Lok Sabha profile shows that he has held the following positions:

His term in the 12th Lok Sabha session lasted until the following year.

He served from 1 September 2015 to 30 July 2019 as a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Chemicals and Fertilizers.

He resigned from Rajya Sabha and Indian National Congress to join Bharatiya Janata Party on 30 July 2019.

He resigned from Rajya Sabha and Indian National Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party on 30 July 2019.

He has noted "games and sports" as his "favourite pastime and recreation" and that his special interests are flying, riding, shooting and swimming.

, he was president of the Uttar Pradesh Hockey Association and of the Uttar Pradesh Football Sangh, as well as vice-president of the All India Football Federation.

At that time he was also a member of clubs in Lucknow and New Delhi and was serving on the governing body of the Sports Authority of India.

Other involvements included the Delhi Development Authority and the Siri Fort Sports Complex in New Delhi.

Singh has an interest in the upliftment of disadvantaged rural populations.

and he founded the Rajarshi Rananjay Sinh Jan Kalyan Samiti, which operates primarily in the sphere of providing free healthcare.