Lucknow, March 21 (IANS) The Samajwadi Party (SP) Friday named former union home minister Buta Singh, a long-time Congresman who wielded considerable power in prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s government in the 1980s, as its candidate for the Jalore-Sirohi Lok Sabha seat in Rajasthan.

SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav made the announcement here.

Buta Singh served in the governments headed by Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. He was the chairman of the national commission for scheduled castes between 2007 and 2010.

Buta Singh was also the governor of Bihar from 2004 to 2006 when he courted controversey for recommending in 2005 that the state assembly be dissolved – for which he received a sharp rap from the Supreme Court. He resigned on January 26, 2006 and left Patna the next day.

Buta Singh, who had been in the Congress for almost 50 years, had contested the 2009 elections from Jalore as an Independent when he was denied a ticket but lost to the BJP’s Devji Patel.