After his party formally joined the UPA on Monday, RLD chief Ajit Singh is likely to be sworn in as a Union Cabinet minister with civil aviation being the possible portfolio. Sources said that swearing-in of the 72- year-old Jat leader from western Uttar Pradesh could take place after December 22 when the Parliament winter session ends. Ajit Singh—whose RLD has five members in the Lok Sabha—had a meeting with the PM, after RLD formally joined the UPA after Singh wrote to alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The RLD action which will give crucial support for the Congress came ahead of the elections in Uttar Pradesh. With the Ajit Singh’s party joining the ruling coalition, UPA’s strength in the Lok Sabha has gone up from 272 to 277. It is the first party which is joining the Congress-led alliance after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and at a crucial time when the party appeared to be battered on several fronts. Ajit Singh has been a member of the Congress government in the past when Narasimha Rao was the prime minister. He held the food portfolio then. He was industry minister in the V P Singh government (1989-90) and agriculture minister in the BJP-led NDA regime from 2001-03. RLD will become the the 15th constituent of the UPA.
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