A week after being re-inducted in the Akhilesh Yadav's Council of Ministers, controversial independent MlA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya has been given the charge of Food and Civil Supplies department. A notification issued by Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani on Saturday stated: "In consultation with the Chief Minister, Governor Bl Joshi has allocated the portfolio of Food and Civil Supplies to Raja Bhaiya."
Samajwadi Party state spokesman and Minister for Prisons, Rajendra Chaudhary, was holding the additional charge of Food and Civil Supplies department. Raja Bhaiya, who had to resign from the Cabinet after the killing of Kunda DySP Zia-ul-Haq in Pratapgarh, was re-inducted into the ministry on October 11. Raja Bhaiya was sworn in by Governor Bl Joshi at Raj Bhawan in the presence of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and senior Cabinet minister Mohammad Azam Khan.
The former Food and Civil Supplies Minister had to resign from the Cabinet after he was named by Haq's wife Parveen Azad in the DySP murder case in March. Though the CBI gave a clean chit to Raja Bhaiya, Azad has challenged the central investigation agency's decision in court.