Kripashankar Singh is a senior Indian politician with the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. He was a minister of state in the 2004

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

state cabinet while in

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

. He was instrumental in Congress gains in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

against

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (1966–2022) (; ; SS) was a right-wing Marathi regionalist Hindutva-based political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, who was later succeeded by Uddhav Thackeray. The party is split into two parties: the Uddha ...

in the 2009 Maharashtra assembly elections. He was the president of the

chapter of the Indian National Congress party until June 2011. He won the Santacruz constituency in the last Mumbai elections.

Early life

Singh hails from a prominent

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

family in Jaunpur

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

. He migrated to Mumbai for work. He performed odd jobs to make ends meet as a migrant. These experiences shaped his political views about hardships faced by migrants.

Political career

He subsequently joined

and rose through the ranks to become a powerful figure by the 2004 elections, when he was assigned the cabinet seat as Minister of State for Home in First Vilasrao Deshmukh ministry from October 1999 to January 2003. He became a MLA from Santacruz vidhan sabha in 1999. In 2009, Singh was elected to the assembly from the newly created Kalina constituency but came third in

2014 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election The 2014 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election was held on 15 October 2014 to elect all 288 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. After a 63.38% turnout in the election as hung verdict has occurred with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ...

. On 7 July 2021, Singh joined the

. He had quit the

in 2019 over its decision to oppose the NDA government’s policy on

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

, and leadership issues in Congress. In March 2024, he was named as a

candidate from Jaunpur in

. He is considered very close to

Amit Shah Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah (born 22 October 1964) is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 32nd Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Minister of Home Affairs since May 2019 and the 1st Ministry of Co-operation, Minister of Co-operat ...

and

Narendra Damodardas Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the member of parliament (MP) for Varanas ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Kripashankar Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Politicians from Mumbai Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra Maharashtra MLAs 2004–2009 Maharashtra MLAs 2009–2014 People from Jaunpur district Marathi politicians Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Maharashtra