The first cabinet meeting held after the reshuffle was marred by a controversy as senior minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias RsRaja Bhaiya’ skipped the meeting without citing any reason
An Independent MlA from Kunda (Pratapgarh), Raja Bhaiya was earlier holding the important portfolio of Food and Civil Supplies but ws divested of his earlier department and made minister of Stamp Registration and Court fee in the reshuffle.
Official sources said that the minister was absent in the meeting in which his department’s agenda was also passed by the state cabinet. The cabinet had approved hike in the court fee for registration from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000.
The cabinet reshuffle has made is clear that Raja Bhaiya has lost the confidence of the CM. Raja Bhaiya was earlier Food and Civil Supplies minister during the Mulayam Singh regime. When Akhilesh took charge in 2012, he was again given the same department plus Jail administration. He quit the ministry after allegation of his involvement in the murder of a DySP cropped up. But when he re-joined, he was again given the Food and Civil Supply department.
When contacted Raja Bhaiyya refused to say anything about his absence from the cabinet meeting but cryptically said: “let people think whatever they like.”