Rajesh Singh is a Fijian politician of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n descent, who briefly held Cabinet office in mid-2006.

Career

A protégé of

Ratu ''Ratu'' () is an Austronesian title used by male Fijians of chiefly rank. An equivalent title, ''adi'' (pronounced ), is used by females of chiefly rank. In the Malay language, the title ''ratu'' is also the traditional honorific title to re ...

Inoke Takiveikata, the Qaranivalu (Paramount Chief) of

Naitasiri :see also Naitasiri District Naitasiri is one of the 14 provinces of Fiji and one of eight located on Viti Levu, Fiji's largest island. Geography and infrastructure Naitasiri covers an area of , and occupies the area mostly to the north of Suva, ...

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, Singh was one of only two

Indo-Fijians Indo-Fijians or Indian-Fijians (also known as Fiji Indians) are Fijian citizens of Indian descent, and include people who trace their ancestry to various regions of the Indian subcontinent.Girmit by Suresh Prasad Although Indo-Fijians constitu ...

elected on the ticket of the ruling

Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua The United Fiji Party ( fj, Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua, SDL) was a political party in Fiji. It was founded in 2001 by Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase as a power base; it absorbed most of the Christian Democratic Alliance and other conse ...

(SDL) Party of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Laisenia Qarase Laisenia Qarase (pronounced ; 4 February 1941 – 21 April 2020) was a Fijian politician. He served as the sixth Prime Minister of Fiji from 2000 to 2006. After the military quashed the coup that led to the removal of Mahendra Chaudhry, Qarase ...

, when he won the

Cunningham Cunningham is a surname of Scottish origin, see Clan Cunningham. Notable people sharing this surname A–C * Aaron Cunningham (born 1986), American baseball player *Abe Cunningham, American drummer * Adrian Cunningham (born 1960), Australian ...

Open Constituency at the

Parliamentary election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held on 6–13 March 2006. In the previous election, held in 2001, he had attempted to win the Ra Open Constituency for the predominantly Indian

National Federation Party The National Federation Party is a Fijian political party founded by A.D. Patel in November 1968, as a merger of the Federation Party and the National Democratic Party. Though it claimed to represent all Fiji Islanders, it was supported, in p ...

. Rajesh Singh Uncles were late Hon James Shankar Singh and Hon Uday Singh Alliance Party with Late Ratu Mara government. He is 3rd generation of Singh in Fiji Politics. Singh are very respected persons from Ba. Soon after the 2006 election, Singh was appointed Minister of State for Youth and Sports. In this role he was subordinate to Ro Teimumu Kepa, with whom his working relationship was tense.

Fiji Television Fiji Television Limited is one of Fiji's main television network. It was founded on 15 June 1994 as the first permanent commercial television broadcasting network in the country, although television had previously been introduced temporarily ...

reported on 28 September that Kepa had written to the Prime Minister a week earlier, charging that Singh was failing to cooperate with her. When he started publicly querying what he said were discrepancies in the accounts of the Sports Ministry and especially the Fiji Sports Council. He was dismissed on 13 October 2006. Takiveikata, imprisoned for his role in a mutiny linked to the 2000 coup, had attempted to persuade Qarase to retain Singh, according to a Fiji Television report on 8 October, but to no avail. Following the

military coup A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...

which deposed the Qarase government on 5 December 2006, Singh declared his willingness to cooperate with the new regime.

Fiji Live ''Fijilive'' is an online newspaper and business and cultural directory in Fiji. The site is owned by the Future Group of Companies owned by Fiji entrepreneur Yashwant Gaunder. ''Fijilive'' is one of Fiji's largest websites. The site rose to ...

quoted him on 17 December as saying that he supported the stated intention of the Military to purge corruption and irregularities from the government and bureaucracy. On 26 May 2007 Singh told Fiji television that he had resigned from the SDL and wished to contest the next election, but not for his former party.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Rajesh Soqosoqo Duavata ni Lewenivanua politicians Indian members of the House of Representatives (Fiji) Living people Fijian Latter Day Saints Politicians from Naitasiri Province Politicians from Suva Year of birth missing (living people)