NEW DELHI: RLD leader Ajit Singh was on Sunday sworn-in as a member of the Union Cabinet. As expected, he was handed over the charge of the civil aviation ministry. His appointment comes at a time when the aviation sector is going through a turbulent period, and he will have his hands full in trying to sort things out in the coming months.

The RLD chief’s induction in the Cabinet was preceded by his party’s decision to join the UPA formally – a move that was necessitated as much by Congress’ desire to swell its support-base in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh by joining hands with community-based outfits as by the RLD supremo’s anxiety to have a share in the power pie at the Centre.

RLD has five members in the Lok Sabha. With RLD joining the ruling coalition, UPA’s strength in the Lok Sabha has gone up from 272 to 277, taking it across the half-way mark. Singh had a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last Monday.

Ajit Singh, the 72-year-old son of former prime minister Choudhary Charan Singh, is one of the great survivors of Indian politics. He has the unique distinction of serving as a minister in governments led by the Janata Party, Congress and BJP, making it clear that ideology did not pose any obstacle in his political career. He made his debut as a minister in the anti-Congress formation led by VP Singh, before being made a minister in the PV Narasimha Rao government. He hitched his political fortunes with the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government later, when he held the charge of the agriculture ministry during 2001-03.

While he held the reins of the industry ministry during VP Singh’s tenure as the prime minister, Ajit Singh was made the food minister by Rao.

Ajit Singh enjoys the unflinching loyalty of the Jat community, who wield tremendous clout in western Uttar Pradesh. In the state-level politics too, the RLD leader has forged alliances with almost all political parties in the past, with the exception of BSP. Caste equations in the western Uttar Pradesh, where the Jat-Jatav rivalry holds sway, has restrained the Jat leader from making common cause with Mayawati so far.

Congress, desperate to seek a revival in Uttar Pradesh, has forged an alliance with RLD with the aim of securing the backing of Jats in the western parts of the state. It remains to be seen whether the alliance will click at the ground level, as BJP too is making a determined bid to make its presence felt in the region.

Ajit Singh, while speaking to newspersons soon after being sworn in here, claimed that his alliance with Congress has now provided a “clear-cut alternative” to the people of Uttar Pradesh against the “oppressive” Mayawati government.

“Our mind now is on Uttar Pradesh. People of UP are feeling oppressed with the Mayawati government but are now getting an alternativea¦ People have now got a clear-cut alternative,” he said.

Singh boasted that the “wave” generated in Uttar Pradesh due to the Congress-RLD alliance will be felt across the country. RLD is likely to contest around 45 seats in the 403-member UP assembly in the coming round of electoral battle. The party has only 10 MLAs in the present assembly.