 sompal shastri or sompal singh shastri () (born 20 january 1942) began as a politician of bharatiya janata party from uttar pradesh, india. he is now in mulayam singh yadav's samajwadi party (sp) and has been given ticket for lok sabha election from baghpat. he belongs to bagpat district in uttar pradesh. he has been minister for agriculture for the national government and a member of the planning commission.national commission on farmers, at last, by sharad joshi. he is vice chairman, state planning board, madhya pradesh. sompal won in 1998 defeating rashtriya lok dal's chief ajit singh from baghpat. but lost to ajit singh in 1999 by a margin of over 1.54 lakh votes. sompal's father was raghubir singh shastri, and represented baghpat in the fourth lok sabha.sompal strives to break a baghpat tradition. he graduated high school in allahabad, 1957; b.a. hons. (economics), delhi university, 1961; m.a. (economics), delhi university, 1964; ll.b., delhi university, 1967. on september 2013, sompal shastri refused to contest lok sabha polls under the samajwadi party banner. in a letter written to party president mulayam singh yadav, mr. shastri said he was not in a position to contest the lok sabha polls from baghpat after the violence in which over 38 people were killed. the incidents of communal violence in muzaffarnagar, shamli and baghpat were unfortunate, he said.http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/in-wake-of-muzaffarnagar-riots-sompal-shastri-refuses-to-be-sp-candidate/articleshow/22605825.cms == references ==  == external links == * india today cover story winners of 1998 
12th_Lok_Sabha_members 1942_births Agriculture_Ministers_of_India Indian_politicians Living_people Lok_Sabha_members_from_Uttar_Pradesh People_from_Bagpat_district People_from_Haridwar University_of_Delhi_alumni Uttar_Pradesh_politicians