Introduction

Prof Sampat Singh (born in 1949 in Bhattu, Fatehabad District

Fatehabad District

Fatehabad is one of the twenty one districts of Haryana state, India.- Origin of the name of the district :The district derives its name from the headquarters town Fatehabad. The town was founded by Firoz Shah Tughlak in the 14th century. He named it after his son Fateh Khan, as Fatehabad...

, Haryana

Haryana

Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...

) is a former Finance Minister

Finance minister

The finance minister is a cabinet position in a government.A minister of finance has many different jobs in a government. He or she helps form the government budget, stimulate the economy, and control finances...

 of Haryana

Haryana

Haryana is a state in India. Historically, it has been a part of the Kuru region in North India. The name Haryana is found mentioned in the 12th century AD by the apabhramsha writer Vibudh Shridhar . It is bordered by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to the north, and by Rajasthan to the west and south...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. He was elected to the Haryana Legislative Assembly

Vidhan Sabha

The Vidhan Sabha or the Legislative Assembly is the lower house or the sole house of the provincial legislature in the different states of India. The same name is also used for the lower house of the legislatures for two of the union territories, Delhi and Pondicherry...

 for the Janata Party

Janata Party

The Janata Party was an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the state of emergency imposed by the government of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her Indian National Congress...

 in the Battukalan constituency in 1982 and was leader of the opposition from 1991 to 1996. He is senior most congress legislator in 12th Haryana assembly, entering 6th time since 1982. In the past, he has handled many important portfolios in state govt as minister. 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 a mentor and thinktank among his party colleagues.

Entry to Politics

Political career of Prof Sampat Singh started when he met Tau Chaudhary Devilal in Hisaar in 1977. Tau had come to Hisar and was to leave for Delhi. Since, it was already lunch time, Prof Singh requested him to take lunch. Tau agreed to it. When Tau 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 Ch Devi Lal left his Bhattu seat for contesting MP election from Sonepat, he wanted Prof Singh to contest election from Bhattu. This started the political career of Prof Singh and thereafter he never looked back.

Prof Sampat Singh has credit of defeating heavy weights likes "Mani Ram Godara" many a times. He also contested and won from new constituency like Fatehabad, Nalwa and Adampur. He recently gave a tough fight to ex CM Bhajanlal in his own constituency "Adampur" in 2008 bye-election. In 2009, he defeated Jasma Devi wife of Bhajanlal from their pocket borough, Nalwa with a huge margin of 10901 votes.

Left Indian National Lok Dal

Prof Sampat Singh contested election from Hisar Lok Sabha Constituency on NDA ticket. He lost this election to Former chief minister Bhajanlal with a narrow margin of 6900 votes.

Keeping in mind the views of his close supporters, Professor Sampat Singh quit INLD on 14 July 2009 and held a meeting with his supporters and workers on 18 July 2009 in Hisar. According to Prof Sampat Singh, it was worst day in his life to announce the decision of quitting a party which He joined Indian National Congress in Chandigarh on 28 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".

Recent win

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. 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.

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 distribution 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.

Family

Smt Krishna Singh, wife of Prof Sampat Singh, is also a social worker. Prof Singh's younger son, Saurabh Singh is well known Tennis player and has represented India in many countries.

His elder son Sh Gaurav Singh is a well known name among educationists. Gaurav Singh is currently Indian Youth Congress president from district Hisar in Haryana.

Political career

• 1972- 1974: Lecturer of Political Science, Dayanand College, Hisar
• 1974- 1977: Professor of Political Science, Jat College, Hisar
• 1977- 1979: Political Secy. To Ch. Devi Lal, C.M. Haryana
• 1980: Election conveyor 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
• 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 15th Lok Sabha Election from Hisar constituency.He lost this election with very low margin of around 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 congress party in Chandigarh. He was welcomed by Sh Bhupender Singh Hooda with words “The right man has come to the right party".

• 2009: (22 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 thus making him most experienced Congress legislator in 12th Vidhansabha. 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 cast politics. It was first defeat of Bhajanlal clan in state politics.

More Details

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 Part

External links

• Personal web site of Prof Sampat Singh
• Prof Sampat Singh
• "Sampat questions change in Assembly rules", The Tribune (India) (January 18, 2006)
• http://www.merinews.com/article/sampat-singh-quits-inld/15776069.shtml - Prof Sampat Singh left INLD
• http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090728/main3.htm - Prof Sampat Singh joined congress
• http://hr.abclive.in/haryana_political_news/jasma_devi_loses_nalwa_assembly_seat.html - Prof Sampat Singh wins from Nalwa
• http://sify.com/news/sweet-revenge-for-sampat-singh-news-national-jkwq4cbgahc.html - Nalwa : Sweet revenge for Sampat Singh
• http://ibnlive.in.com/assembly_elections_2009/candidate/Haryana/result.html - Election 2009 results, sampat singh wins
• http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100219/haryana.htm#2 - Prof Sampat Singh in HREC meetings
• http://www.tribuneindia.com/2010/20100129/haryana.htm#3 - Sampat Singh Against power terrif hike in Haryana