Controversial independent MlA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya lashes on media soon after he was re-inducted into the State Cabinet. He stepped down seven months back after his name came as a Rs conspirator’ in the killing of DSP Zia-ul-Haq in Pratapgarh.
"The media had held me guilty in DSP murder case before any probe was started. Now that I have been given clean chit by the CBI, they should review their working. I thankful to SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for having faith on me," Raja Bhaiya said while slamming the media soon after he was sworn in by Governor B l Joshi at Raj Bhawan in the presence of SP supremo MulayamSingh Yadav, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and senior cabinet minister Mohd Azam Khan, here at Raj Bhawan on Friday morning.
"It's unfortunate that media made a bad impression of me before the people without any base...They (media) should maintain restraint in such matters," he said. The former Food and Civil Supplies Minister had to resign from the Cabinet after being named by DSP Haq's wife Parveen Azad in the murder case earlier this year. Though CBI gave clean chit to Raja Bhaiya but Azad had challenged the findings and the matter is still pending in the High Court. Eight criminal cases are pending against the MlA from Kunda. However, Raja Bhaiya was re-inducted and he will be soon allocated a ministry. Replying to a query that which portfolio he would like to take, Raja Bhaiya claimed that he would do his duty sincerely irrespective of the department he was given.
About the number of criminal cases pending against him, Independent MlA from Kunda said that they were "courtesy of BSP government". When asked whether he was re-inducted as a minister in a "damage control" exercise after Muzaffarnagar riots to manage "Thakur" votes, he said "as far as I know, Mulayam Singh's politics is not based on casteism." On being asked whether he would visit Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas after becoming a Minister, Raja Bhaiya said, "I am a minister of the entire state. I will fulfill all theresponsibilities given to me by the Chief Minister."
On speculations about him joining BJP, he said it was media speculation and "it(media) is free to continue doing so". When asked about his earlier statement that some personsconspired to include his name in the DSP murder case, Raja Bhaiya said let the name of "conspirators" be a secret. To a question whether it was Congress that conspired against him, former minister said "may be". On his relations with senior Cabinet colleague Mohd Azam Khan, he said he never had sour relations with him. "Media makes and breaks relations with anyone on its whims."
Now with Raja Bhaiya’s induction, there are a total of 59 ministers in the UP Cabinet and the upper limit is of 60 ministers. At present, there are 22 Cabinet ministers including CM, six state ministers with independent charges and 31 state ministers Raja Bhaiya entered politics by winning assembly polls in 1993 from Kunda seat in Pratapgarh district as an independent candidate supported by BJP. In 1996, he again won as an independent supported by BJP, while in 2002, 2007 and 2012, he won as independent candidate supported by Samajwadi Party.
He has been minister in cabinets of Kalyan Singh (BJP), Ram Prakash Gupta (BJP) and Rajnath Singh (BJP) and later with Mulayam Singh Yadav (SP). In 2002, he was sent to jail in the Mayawati regime and booked under Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). In 2010, he was again sent to jail after violence duringpanchyat elections in Kunda and he remained in jail for over a year. In previous BSP regime, Pratapgarh police had sent a report to the state government in which 47 criminal cases, including 23 in Kunda, eight in Hathigawan and five in Nawabganj against Raja Bhaiya were mentioned. However, in his affidavit in assembly elections on January 30 last year, he had mentioned only eight cases against him.