Lucknow: While both Samajwadi Party (SP) and NDA leaders made beeline for the Kunda mansion of seven-time MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, better known as ‘Raja bhaiya’, reaching out to the strongman for his help in the Rajya Sabha polls, Singh has made it clear that his MLAs will vote for BJP candidates, denying any advantage to the main opposition SP.
Although set to help Sanjay Seth, the eighth BJP candidate for Rajya Sabha polls, the move won’t guarantee that Seth reaches the Upper House since he needs eight extra votes to ensure a smooth passage to the Rajya Sabha. It does, however, lay bare the bonhomie between Singh’s Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) and the BJP as also its strained ties with the SP.
The fate of 10 seats will be decided Tuesday with the BJP fielding eight candidates and the SP three. Each candidate needs 37 first preference votes to get elected.
With two MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, JD(L) was in a position to help the SP send its third candidate to the Upper House.
However, speaking to media persons in Lucknow after participating in the training programme organised by the BJP in Lok Bhawan for NDA MLAs ahead of voting for the Rajya Sabha polls Tuesday, Singh said that JD(L) MLAs’ vote will go to the BJP candidate.
He also went on to confirm his participation in the dinner organised by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for all NDA MLAs Monday.
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How ‘Raja bhaiya’ may upset SP’s arithmetic
While the BJP is comfortably placed to send seven members to the Rajya Sabha, its eighth candidate, Sanjay Seth, will need support from the Opposition ranks to make it to the upper house of Parliament. The NDA has 288 votes in the 403-member assembly. Seth needs eight extra votes, which means that only cross-voting can help him win.
As it has 108 MLAs, the SP needs three extra votes to ensure the victory of its third candidate. Though two votes from the Congress are likely to go in its favour, the SP will have to depend on outsiders for the third vote.
Umashankar Singh, the lone BSP MLA, is unlikely to vote for the SP.
JD(L) MLAs’ two votes would have ensured that the SP’s third candidate inches closer to making it to the Rajya Sabha and would have remained only one vote short of the same which is why SP state president Naresh Uttam Patel Tuesday met the Kunda strongman at his residence and sought his support for the Rajya Sabha polls.
Soon after that meeting, the ‘bahubali’ is said to have remarked that he had devoted 20 years to the SP and that it is not just a political party for him.
A day later, BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary along with UP Cooperative Minister J.P.S. Rathore met the Kunda MLA at his residence where, sources said, the Rajya Sabha polls were discussed.
A JD(L) insider privy to the talks told ThePrint that both parties reached out for support and that a possibility of an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls was also being explored.
While the party is keen on an alliance with the NDA, the JD(L) insider said, the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP too was ready to offer the Pratapgarh Lok Sabha seat to the strongman.
However, less than a week later, Singh’s move has made it clear that the BJP’s ideology suits his party better and that he has not forgotten Akhilesh Yadav’s “kundi band do” remark in the run-up to the 2022 assembly polls.
Party insiders say that the Ram temple inauguration is another major reason for JD(L) siding with the NDA.
“Our party has always desired to work with those with the same ideology and the NDA remains our first preference. The SP was ready to give us some seats in the Lok Sabha polls but we are Ram bhakts. We don’t want to be branded as atheists in the background of the Ram temple being inaugurated,” the JD(L) insider said.
‘Raja bhaiya a leader of Yogi camp’
While some JD(L) leaders are hoping to be a part of the NDA officially, BJP insiders point out that the ruling party has always extended support to him from outside and he ‘belongs to the Yogi Adityanath camp’.
‘Raja bhaiya’ was elected as an independent MLA with support from BJP in 1993 and 1996 and with the SP’s help in 2002, 2007 and 2012.
“Raja bhaiya is close to UP CM Yogi Adityanath but as far as entering a formal alliance is concerned, the fact remains that this subject is dealt with by Delhi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Raja bhaiya has criminal antecedents and with a tussle going on between the central leadership of BJP and the state leadership of the BJP in UP, it is highly unlikely that any alliance will take place. JD(L)’s support to BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls is just a gesture on its part to show that it is ideologically inclined towards the BJP and that it wants to continue to enjoy indirect support from the BJP,” said a UP BJP leader.
Mirza Asmer Beg, professor of political science at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) commented that ‘Raja bhaiya’ needs the BJP more than the BJP needs him.
“BJP does not need Raja bhaiya but as much as he needs the BJP. Raja bhaiya has criminal antecedents and a long criminal history. If Delhi does not want to ally with him, it can easily cite his criminal antecedents. Moreover, as a Thakur leader, Raja bhaiya has little choice but to support Yogi Adityanath.
“Further, the kinship among Rajput leaders of UP is also a fact. There are several cases lodged against him and in order to sustain himself, he needs to ensure that he remains close to power especially when this regime has given ample examples that it can turn against you and pull you down any time. Being close to power not only helps one evade jail but has perks. When Satyapal Malik can be raided, Raja bhaiya is a small fry,” he said.
‘Raja bhaiya’ & SP ties
The SP cosying up with ‘Raja bhaiya’ was a departure from the hostility that was seen in the 2022 UP election as the opposition party fielded a candidate in Kunda after two decades.
At a poll rally in Kunda, Akhilesh had targeted ‘Raja bhaiya’ with a cutting “kundi band kar do (close the door latch)” remark, urging people to “vote for change”. This led to Singh declaring that he would not let the Samajwadi Party form a government.
An influential member of Akhilesh’s state cabinet till 2017, ‘Raja bhaiya’ fell out with the SP chief following which Akhilesh stated during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections that he wouldn’t associate with the Kunda strongman in the future.
‘Raja bhaiya’, who has always contested as an Independent, fought the assembly polls from Kunda for the seventh time in 2022 on a ticket of JD(L) which he floated in 2018. The party fielded 18 candidates that year.
In the run-up to the UP election, the attack on the SP’s Kunda candidate Gulshan Yadav’s cavalcade sparked a war of words, with Akhilesh tweeting that breaking glass (of windowpane) won’t break their spirit.
Later, on 1 March, 2022, Akhilesh tweeted a video showing a youth pressing a button on behalf of a female voter. While the tweet was deleted soon after, ‘Raja bhaiya’ hit back highlighting that the video was from the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Haryana.
Remembering Akhilesh Yadav’s comments about ‘Raja bhaiya’ during the 2022 assembly polls campaigning, the JD(L) insider quoted above said: “Jo Kundi band karne aye the, ab unki khud ki kundi band kar di gyi hai…(those who came to close the latch have themselves been cornered).”
Once declared a “terrorist” by the Mayawati government in January 2003, ‘Raja bhaiya’, a Rajput, comes from the erstwhile ruling family of Kunda. In Pratapgarh district, within which Kunda falls, he enjoys immense clout.
Despite facing criminal charges, he has served in ministries in three BJP governments and two SP governments.
In an interview to ThePrint in 2022, the Kunda strongman had said that it was not necessary to always be in government. “I was not a minister in every government. I was not a minister during the Mayawati rule. I was not there in 1993 and 1996. So, it is not like that…I have got the chance of being in the ruling side and the Opposition too,” he had said.
In 2002, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati accused him of trying to topple her government and jailed him under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).
A raid at his mansion in Kunda is said to have led to the recovery of weapons as well as skeletal remains from a lake spread over 600 acres. The charges were vehemently denied by ‘Raja bhaiya’.
Released from jail after the Mayawati government fell in 2003 and made a minister in the Mulayam Singh Yadav government, he was again jailed by Mayawati on a murder charge after she came to power in 2007.
After Yogi Adityanath came to power in 2017, there were speculations that ties with the BJP would collapse as he was denied a ministerial berth. However, ‘Raja bhaiya’ praised Yogi Adityanath, saying his performance was better in many spheres compared to previous governments.
An SP leader said that though ‘Raja bhaiya’ has floated his party, he supports Yogi Adityanath and has met him several times. “He may not be in the government but they (Raja and BJP) support each other. He has met Yogi several times and because he is a Rajput leader, the BJP and Raja bhaiya help each other,” the SP leader told ThePrint.
‘Kunda ka gunda’
Former chief minister and BJP veteran Kalyan Singh had famously dubbed ‘Raja bhaiya’ as ‘Kunda ka gunda’ (the goon of Kunda)” citing his criminal antecedents. Yet, in 1997, he made him a minister.
He then went on to serve in the BJP governments led by Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh.
In August 2003, Mulayam dropped the POTA charges against ‘Raja bhaiya’ even before he proved majority in the assembly. Later, he inducted Singh into the cabinet following his release. In 2012, when Mulayam’s son Akhilesh formed the government, ‘Raja bhaiya’ was given the prisons as well as the food and civil supplies ministries.
He, however, resigned after his name surfaced in the alleged conspiracy to murder Pratapgarh DSP Zia-ul Haq, who was shot dead on 2 March, 2013. While the CBI gave Singh a clean chit in 2013, the slain DSP’s wife challenged it and the Allahabad HC quashed the order in 2022. The CBI is now reinvestigating the case on the directions of the Supreme Court.
A BJP leader said that ‘Raja bhaiya’ is seen as a ‘royal’ and strongman, and draws popularity from the tag.
“He is someone who is always in the news, whether for good or bad reasons. He has a certain glamour, and the more he is attacked, the more he is news. Also, he is popular among the Rajputs in Pratapgarh district as well as some pockets of Kaushambi,” the BJP leader said.
Singh’s diehard supporters vouch for his ‘janata darbar’ (public hearings) and the annual community marriage event that he holds every year. He is the ‘pride of Kunda’, they say.
“Yes, he is a strongman, but he is a messiah, too. In janata darbars, there is no bias on the basis of caste or creed…. Those belonging to the scheduled and backward castes especially get quick resolution,” said Surendra Singh from Kunda, who calls himself a supporter of the bahubali leader.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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