The independent MLA from Kunda and Jansatta Dal Loktantrik president, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, met Samajwadi Party (SP) founder and chief patron Mulayam Singh Yadav at the latter’s residence on Thursday triggering speculation that he might ally with SP again
The independent MLA from Kunda and Jansatta Dal Loktantrik president, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, met Samajwadi Party (SP) founder and chief patron Mulayam Singh Yadav at the latter’s residence on Thursday triggering speculation that he might ally with SP again. However, he was quick to dispel those rumours.
Raja Bhaiya dismissed the speculations saying that “nothing should be construed out of the meeting. (HT Photo)
Raja Bhaiya tweeted a picture of him with Mulayam and wrote in Hindi: “Met respected Mulayam Singh ji after a long time, got his blessings...emotional moments”. The meeting – amidst SP chief Akhilesh Yadav trying to form alliances with several small parties one after the other – triggered speculations that he might ally with SP for the 2022 UP Assembly polls.
Speaking to newspersons after the interaction with the SP chief patron, Raja Bhaiya dismissed the speculations saying that “nothing should be construed out of the meeting. I had been calling on Netaji (Mulayam) for years on his birthday to greet him and to seek his blessings. But this time (on Mulayam’s birthday, on November 22) I could not meet him because I was away. So, I met him today”.
On November 22, Raja Bhaiya had greeted Mulayam on Twitter.
The six-time MLA (all successive terms and as an independent) from Kunda (Pratapgarh) since 1993, Raja Bhaiya is a known party-hopper and had been a minister in the previous Akhilesh Yadav (SP) government, Mayawati (BSP) government, BJP governments under Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta, and Rajnath Singh.
He had resigned as minister from the Akhilesh Yadav government when he was accused in the murder of a police officer, Zia-ul-Haq. Later, a CBI court gave him a clean chit in the case.