Lucknow, Feb 2 (IANS): Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh is a spent force and there is no chance of his return to the party from which he was expelled in 2010, Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Mohammad Azam Khan said.

"He is a 'daga kartoos' (spent cartridge) and is not coming into the SP," the urban development and minority affairs minister told reporters late Monday night in Kanpur.

"While I can fetch votes for the ruling party, people like Amar Singh who travel in BMWs are not even sure whom their wives will vote for," Khan remarked.

The minister's comments are in stark contrast to recent hints dropped by SP leaders about the return of former Rajya Sabha member Amar Singh to the party fold.

SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav recently said Amar Singh "is in my heart", while his younger brother and Public Works Department Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav said Amar Singh was always a family.

On Monday too, Yadav said in Jaunpur that whenever Mulayam Singh wants, Amar Singh will be back in the party.

There have been strong indications that both sides may bury the hatchet before the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, due early next year.