Gonda MP Kirti Vardhan Singh sworn in as MoS in NDA govt

        Lucknow/Gonda (UP), Jun 9 (PTI) Known for his flying acumen and love for the environment, newly-elected Lok Sabha MP from Gonda Kirti Vardhan Singh is popularly known as Raja Bhaiyya among his supporters in the constituency and the adjoining region.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He hails from the royal family of Mankapur and has significantly taken forward the legacy of his father Anand Singh, who was a Congress MP from Gonda and an MLA.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A fifth term Lok Sabha MP from Gonda Lok Sabha seat, Singh made a hat trick in the just-concluded general elections after defeating his nearest rival Shreya Verma of the Samajwadi Party by a margin of over 46,000 votes.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; He had also won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections as well as the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Gonda parliamentary constituency on a BJP ticket.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Earlier, Kirti Vardhan Singh was elected to the Lok Sabha on a Samajwadi Party ticket in 1998 and 2004 general elections.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In April 2023, Singh hogged headlines for a daring act when the country's experienced skydiver Sheetal Mahajan jumped from a glider flown by him from Pinjore airport in Haryana during the National Aero Modelling Fellowship Programme.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Singh on Sunday took the oath of office and secrecy as a Minister of State.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The 58-year-old BJP MP has done M Sc in Geology from the Lucknow University.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; An agriculturist by profession, Kirti Vardhan Singh is married to Madhushree Singh and they have one son.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; According to the Lok Sabha website, protection of the environment has always been an important issue for Singh. He had organised village level groups to protect the flora and fauna of the local forest from timber mafia and poachers.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Currently, he is working on a project to rejuvenate local lakes. Singh successfully fought for the cause of settlement of the Vantangiya labour families living in the forests. He also spearheaded the fight against the local sand mafia at the ground level as well as in the National Green Tribunal, which ultimately resulted in heavy fines imposed on the offenders and the curbing of this ecologically harmful activity.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; His father Anand Singh was elected as Congress MP from Gonda in 1971, 1980, 1984 and 1989.<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Anand Singh was also a member of the UP Legislative Assembly and served as Agriculture Minister in the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP government in UP from 2012 to 2017. He retired from active politics in 2017.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)