Prof Sampat Singh Budania
Prof Sampat Singh (Budania) (born 20th April 1949) is a vetern politician from Haryana and has handled many important portfolios as minister in state government. He was born at village Bhattu Kalan in Sirsa district. He is staunch follower of the policies of the great kisan leader Ch. Devi Lal. He has been one of the most important person in Haryana politics for many decades. He is known as mentor and member of think-tank among his party colleagues.
In Politics
Political career of Prof Sampat Singh started when he met Chaudhary Devilal in Hisar in 1977. Tau ji had come to Hisar and was to leave for Delhi. Since, it was already lunch time, Prof Singh requested him to take lunch with him. Tauji agreed to it. When Tauji came to power, Prof Singh went to congratulate him. Prof Singh was appointed as Personal Secretary to Chief Minister ( Chaudhary Devilal). Prof Singh had no political ambitions and he was reluctant in taking the post. In 1979, when Tauji left his Bhattu Kalan seat for contesting Lok Sabha election from Sonepat, he offered Prof Singh to contest elections from Bhattu Kalan. He contested and won it. Prof Singh thereafter has never looked back.
Election History
Serial | Year | House | Constituency | Party | Result | Against |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | 5th Vidhan Sabha | Bhatu Kalan | JNP(SC) | Lost | Ran Singh of INC | |
1982 | 6th Vidhan Sabha | Bhatu Kalan | Independent | Win | Ran Singh of INC | |
1987 | 7th Vidhan Sabha | Bhatu Kalan | Lok Dal | Win | Mani Ram Godara of INC | |
1991 | 8th Vidhan Sabha | Bhatu Kalan | Janta Party | Win | Mani Ram Godara of HVK | |
1996 | 9th Vidhan Sabha | Bhatu Kalan | Samta Party | Lost | Mani Ram Godara of HVK | |
1998 | 9th Vidhan Sabha | Fatehabad (ByPoll) | HLD(R) | Win | Jarnail Kaur of HVP | |
2000 | 10th Vidhan Sabha | Bhatu Kalan | INLD | Win | Jagdish Nehra of INC | |
2005 | 11th Vidhan Sabha | Bhatu Kalan | INLD | Lost | Kulvir Singh of INC | |
2008 | 11th Vidhan Sabha | Adampur (ByPoll) | INLD | Lost | Bhajan Lal of HJC(BL) & Ranjit Chautala of INC | |
2009 | 15th Lok Sabha | Hisar | INLD | Lost | Bhajan Lal of HJC(BL) & Jai Parkash JP of INC | |
2009 | 12th Vidhan Sabha | Nalwa | INC | Win | Jasma Devi of HJC(BL) | |
2014 | 16th Lok Sabha | Hisar | INC | Lost | Dushyant Chautala of INLD won & Kuldeep Bishnoi of HJC(BL) | |
2014 | 13th Vidhan Sabha | Nalwa | INC | Lost | Ranbir Gangwa of INLD & Chander Mohan of HJC(BL) | |
2024 | 15th Vidhan Sabha | Nalwa | ind | Randhir Panihar of BJP & Anil Mann of INC |
Achievements
Prof Singh has credit of defeating heavy weights in electoral fights, like "Mani Ram Godara". He has also contested and won from constituencies like Fatehabad and "Adampur". He gave a tough fight to Bhajan Lal in Adampur constituency in 2008 bye-election.
When he was Finance minister of the State, Haryana implemented various financial reforms initiated by Union Govt. and also that Haryana became the first state to implement V A T. As Home minister of the state during militancy times, he curbed the menace of terrorism in Haryana with a firm hand.
Active Role in Electricity Tariff Regulation in the state
Prof Sampat Singh is among a rare class of politicians who do not hesitate in raising concerns for common man's cause. He studies the topic and issue in depth before giving any public statement on it. He seems to have a great in depth knowledge of power sector and related matters in the state of Haryana. This is the reason that he has been instrumental in raising concerns against irregularities in the state power distribution companies viz DHBVN and UHBVN. These companies were trying to pass on the deficit to the state consumers and prof Sampat Singh, despite being the ruling party MLA, opposed it openly. Similarly, he raised concerns against privatization of power distibution in Gurgaon dist. He also raised concerns over appointment of retired and old officers in Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission as members. On Feb 18th 2010, Prof Sampat Singh, who had been the single-most consistent voice against these companies, raised objections over the inclusion of the ARR of the two previous years in the revenue gaps being shown. Stating that he was not there as an MLA of a particular party, but as a consumer, he opposed the tariff hike and said fuel hike should be included in the ARR. This was allowed by the commission.
Sampat Singh urged the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) to reject the power companies’ request to levy fuel surcharge on consumers. Sampat Singh, Congress MLA from Nalwa, said the fuel surcharge adjustment (FSA) should be exposed to public scrutiny as was the practice while deciding the annual revenue requirement (ARR). This, he said, would ensure transparency and answerability in the power corporations.The consumer had the right to know whether the companies were buying the power judiciously or wasting their money. Sampat Singh said had the companies been filing true ARR, there would have been no need to revise the power tariff. The companies had purchased 2,800 million units of power at an average rate of Rs 6 per unit in 2008-09, which was why fuel surcharge had been sought. Ironically, only 40 million units at an average of Rs 5 per unit had been proposed in 2009-10. This was a glaring example of the companies’ intention to suppress the costs in the ARR, he elaborated.
Ministries Held
Cabinet Minister (Haryana):
• Ministry of Home
• Ministry of Irrigation & Power
• Ministry of Finance
• Ministry of Industry
• Ministry of Excise & Taxation
• Ministry of Town & Country Planning
• Ministry of Local Bodies
• Ministry of Jails,
• Ministry of Public Relations
• Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs & Planning (3 times)
Leader of Opposition (Haryana):
• Years 1991-1996.
About Family:
Prof Singh's younger son, Saurabh Singh is well known Tennis player. His elder son Gaurav Singh is a well known name among educationists!
Left INLD:
Prof Sampat Singh contested election from Hisar Lok Sabha Constituency on NDA ticket. He lost this election to Former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal with a narrow margin of 6,900 votes. It is alleged that INLD and HJC did an under-the-table agreement to ensure Bhajanlal's win from Hisar and Ajay's win from Bhiwani. Hence Prof Sampat Singh lost election just because of hidden alliance between Chautala and Bhajan Lal. This caused his supporters to be angry with INLD supremo. INLD was defeated in all LS seats in 2009 elections and in order to revive the party, Prof Sampat Singh enlisted 65 reasons for party's defeat. All the points were clearly showing the problems with party leadership and wrong decisions taken by Chautala and sons.
Professor Sampat Singh quit INLD on 14th July 2009 and held a meeting with his supporters and workers on 18th July 2009 in Hisar to chalk out further course of action. He joined Indian National Congress in Chandigarh on 28th July 2009 in the presence of Ch Bhupender Singh Hooda. Mr Hooda welcomed him by saying "Right person has come to right place in right time".
Defeated in Lok Sabha Elections, 2009 and 2014
He fought for Hisar Lok sabha constituency in 2009 as INLD candidate and lost with a slender margin of votes. But in May 2014 General elections he had face a humiliation of forfeiting his security deposit in a multi corner contest in which he was a candidate from INC.
Recent Win from Nalwa
On 24th sep, Congress party selected Prof Sampat Singh as its candidate from Nalwa consituency in Hisar. Prof Sampat Singh had a contest with Jasma Devi of HJC and Ranbir Singh Gangwa of INLD. In this most interesting contest of Haryana, Prof Sampat Singh defeated Jasma Devi in her home-constituency[4]. With this win, Prof Sampat Singh joined a league of rare leaders who have represented 3 different constituencies in diff Dists. Also, it was first defeat for Bhajanlal family in state politics where in Prof Sampat Singh defeated Jasma devi by a huge margin of around 10901 votes. Despite being new to this constituency, Prof Sampat Singh's clean image helped him being ahead of his rivals. This defeat of Jasma Devi was just a starter for the downfall of Bhajanlal's Haryana Janhit Congress in literal terms as just after winning the election, five out of total six MLAs of Haryana Janhit Congress left HJC and joined Congress.
More about Prof Singh can be read on his official [website http://www.sampatsingh.in]
Detailed Bio Profile
Father’s Name - Sh Ram Chander
Gotra - Budania
Date of Birth - April 20, 1949
Place of Birth - Village Bhattu, District Sirsa (Haryana)
Marital Status - Married
Spouse’s Name - Smt. Krishna Singh
Educational Qualifications : B.A. (1969), MA 1972. Educated at Panjab University, Chandigarh
Profession - Educationist, Politician
Permanent Address - Kothi no. 112, Sector - 15, Hisar
Positions held
1972- 1974: Professor of Political Science, Dayanand College, Hisar
1974- 1977: Professor of Political Science, Jat College, Hisar
1977- 1979: Political Secy. To Ch. Devi Lal, then Chief Minister Haryana
1980: Election conveyer for Ch. Devi Lal during 7th Lok Sabha Elections
1980: By Election, Contested election from Bhattu Kalan
1981: State Youth Party President till 1984. Voluntary resigned at the age of 35years to make way for other youth members.
1982: Elected to 6th Vidhan Sabha, Bhattu Kalan Constituency Member, Schedule Caste & Welfare Society of Haryana Vidhan Sabha
1984: District Party President, Hisar till 1987
1987: Elected to 7th Vidhan Sabha, Bhattu Kalan Constituency Minister of Industry, Excise & Taxation, Town & Country Planning, Home, Local Bodies, Jails, Public Relations, Irrigation & Power, Finance, Parliamentary Affairs & Planning
1991: Elected to 8th Vidhan Sabha, Bhattu Kalan Constituency Leader of Opposition, Haryana during Bhajan Lal govt.
1996: Contested election from Bhattu Kalan
1998: By Election, Elected to 9th Vidhan Sabha, Fatehabad Constituency Chairman, Assurance Committee, Haryana Vidhan Sabha
1999: Cabinet Minister for Finance, Parliamentary Affairs & Planning
2000: Elected to 10th Vidhan Sabha, Bhattu Kalan Constituency Cabinet Minister for Finance, Parliamentary Affairs & Planning
2005: Contested election from Bhattu Kalan
2008: By Election, Contested election from Adampur
2009: Contested Loksabha-2009 election from Hisar constituency and lost with a narrow margin of 6900 votes.
2009: (14 Jul)Prof Sampat Singh quit INLD after remaining associated with the INLD for 32 long years since the time of party supremo and former deputy Chief Minister Devi Lal.
2009: (27 Jul) Prof Sampat Singh joined Indian National Congress party in Chandigarh. He was welcomed by Sh Bhupender Singh Hooda with words “The right man has come to the right party".
2009: (22nd Oct) Prof Sampat Singh won as Congress Candidate from Nalwa constituency in Hisar dist. With this, he has become 6 times legislator in state assembly. He defeated Bhajanlal's wife Jasma Devi with a huge margin of 10901 votes. Nalwa, considered to be a pocket borough of Bhajanlal, but Prof Sampat Singh's clean image came heavily on Bhajan lal's caste politics. It was first defeat of Bhajanlal clan in the state politics.
Others
Language(s) Known: Hindi, English, Punjabi & Sanskrit
Foreign Travels: Visited USA, Canada, U.K., France, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Germany, Italy and Nepal.
Offices Held: President, District Lok Dal, Hisar ;
Member State Lok Dal Executive; Member, Haryana Sangharsh Samiti ; President, Haryana State Yuva Lok Dal
and National General Secretary, Samajwadi Janata Party.
Left Congress Party
In mid-October 2019, Sampat resigned from Congress Party and joined BJP. This happened when he was denied ticket by Congress party for the Assembly elections in Haryana in October 2019.
External Links
- Prof. Sampat Singh at Wikipedia
- Biodata at the website of Haryana Vidhan Sabha
- http://myneta.info/haryana2014/candidate.php?candidate_id=252
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