Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has once again welcomed his old friend Amar Singh back in the party fold. A Rajya Sabha nomination for Singh is the cherry on the welcome cake. Singh’s return to Uttar Pradesh’s political stage is a sign of the party getting its election strategy ready in time for the 2017 polls.

Of UP’s 11 Rajya Sabha vacancies, elections for which are due next month, Samajwadi Party has a quota of seven seats. The names were finalised at the SP parliamentary board meeting attended by Yadav, senior party members Ram Gopal Yadav, Mohammad Azam Khan and Shivpal Yadav, special invitee Kiranmoy Nanda and UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The SP has also announced the names of Revti Raman Singh, Arvind Singh, Sanjay Seth, Sukhram Yadav, Vishambhar Prasad Nishad, and Beni Prasad Verma on Tuesday. The most talked about, though, is Amar Singh — known best for his networking prowess, which has brought together politicians, industry captains and Hindi film stars. The Rajya Sabha elections are slated for June 11, and those for Uttar Pradesh (UP) Legislative Council will be held on June 13.

Singh and Mulayam Singh Yadav have had an on-off relationship for years. Singh was ousted from the SP even though he was a general secretary and a member of the Rajya Sabha. He quit on January 6, 2010, and floated his own party, Rashtriya Lok Manch in 2011. He contested against the SP in 2012, but none of his candidates won. Singh then joined Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Fatehpur Sikri, which he lost.

Amar Singh’s return and SP’s acceptance is an attempt by the party to win back the Rajput vote, in time for the 2017 state elections. Not everyone in the SP is happy with Singh’s return, say sources. Of course, no one in the anti-Singh camp will dare to openly oppose Yadav’s decision at the moment. Not even Azam Khan, who had once called Singh a ‘spent cartridge’.

Singh has used his ‘political break’ to mend any broken links with UP’s political bigwigs. Along with industrialist Subhash Chandra, he hosted a wedding reception for Aditya, the son of Yadav’s younger brother Shivpal in April.

Mulayam Singh Yadav has also reacted promptly to Janata Dal United’s chief Nitish Kumar’s call to unite the Kurmi vote in UP,  and reinstated Beni Prasad Verma, who had moved to the Congress. In the 403-member state Assembly, SP has 227 legislators; Bahujan Samaj Party, 80; Bharatiya Janata Party, 41; and Congress, 29. Since a support of 37 legislators is needed for every seat in the Rajya Sabha, SP gets seven of UP’s 11 seats that fall vacant on July 4. BSP gets two while BJP gets one.

Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Ambeth Rajan are likely to be given a second term by BJP and BSP, respectively. The latter have already re-nominated Satish Chandra Mishra. Congress, though, will need to gather support from either independents or smaller parties such as the RLD (eight MLAs) or Peace Party (four MLAs) to win at least one seat.