As a part of the Cong-RLD deal ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls, Rashtriya Lok Dal Chief Ajit Singh is expected to be appointed as the new Civil Aviation Minister. According to the close sources to Singh, no date has been fixed for his swearing-in. Ajit Singh had a meeting with the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier on Monday, after the RLD formally joined the ruling UPA.

Ajit Singh’s RLD has five members in the Lok Sabha. With RLD joining the ruling alliance, the strength of UPA in the Lok Sabha has gone up from 272 to 277 in the 543-member. This is the first party which joined the Congress-led UPA after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

Digvijay Singh, the Congress General Secretary said to media, “Ajit Singh gave a letter to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi stating that Rashtriya Lok Dal would like to join the alliance and latter has agreed to this.”

72 years old 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 VP Singh government and agriculture minister in the BJP-led NDA.

RLD will be the fifteenth constituent of the UPA.

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