UP elections: Raja Bhaiya's party may have alliance with BJP

With political parties making preparations for the upcoming assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, there is talk of an alliance between Raja Bhaiya's Jansatta Dal Loktantrik and the BJP.

Lucknow: Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, the party of Pratapgarh MLA Kunwar Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who has a distinct identity in the politics of Uttar Pradesh, may have an alliance with the BJP in the 2022 assembly elections. Sources claim that Raja Bhaiya is considering contesting some in alliance with the BJP.

The BJP is eyeing like-minded parties for an alliance in the 2022 assembly elections. Given this, there are intense discussions going on for BJP's alliance with the Raghuraj Pratap Singh's Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, BJP sources and Raja Bhaiya's close friends claim. This might be finalised in the near future. Analysts say that this alliance of Raja Bhaiya and BJP will definitely strengthen the Jansatta DalLoktantrik. BJP too will also benefit from this.

The Jansatta Dal Loktantrik had fielded candidates from several Lok Sabha seats in Allahabad division, including Pratapgarh and Kaushambi, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But in the Modi wave, the Jansatta Dal candidates could not even save their deposits. Following this, the Jansatta Dal is facing an existential crisis. In the Panchayat elections, only the president of Jansatta Dal was victorious in Pratapgarh.

Raja Bhaiya, known for his muscle-power, belongs to the princely state of Bhadri, and is an independent MLA of Kunda. He has good relations with former Chief Ministers Kalyan Singh, Rajnath Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav. This is the reason why he got the post of minister in each of their governments. In the government formed after the BJP-BSP alliance in 2002, the then Chief Minister Mayawati had tried to reduce his influence by applying the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Raja Bhaiya entered Kundal's politics from the assembly elections held in 1993. Since then he has remained unstoppable. Raja Bhaiya supported the BJP in the 1993 and 1996 assembly elections, and was elected MLA in the 2002, 2007, and 2012 elections as an independent candidate supported by the Samajwadi Party. He has also been a minister in BJP's Kalyan Singh government and SP's Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav governments.

Raja Bhaiya was made minister in the cabinet of BJP's Kalyan Singh in 1997. In 1999 and in 2000 in the cabinets of Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh, he was made sports and youth welfare minister. In 2004, Raghuraj Pratap became the minister of food and logistics in the government of Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav. After this, on March 15, 2012, Raja Bhaiya again became the minister of prisons and food and logistics in the cabinet of Uttar Pradesh Government. But after Raja Bhaiya's name came up in the murder case of DSP Ziaul Haq on March 2, 2013, he resigned from the post of minister on March 4, 2013. However, later in the investigation of the CBI, Raja Bhaiya was found innocent and got a clean chit in the closure report.

In November 2018, Raghuraj Pratap formed the Jansatta Dal Loktantrik party and entered the election fray. With 2022 assembly elections just ahead, Raja Bhaiya is in touch with the BJP to secure his political future and stand in the elections with an alliance. People close to BJP and Raja Bhaiya say that Raja Bhaiya is claiming half a dozen seats in and around Pratapgarh. It will be interesting to see that if there is an alliance of Raja Bhaiya's party with the BJP, then how many seats can up for consideration.

Leader of Jansatta Dal Loktantrik and MLC Akshay Pratap Singh told ETV Bharat over the phone that with whom to have an alliance in the elections or not will be taken by the party's national president Raja Bhaiya.

“We don't have any information about this right now,” he said.

BJP's state spokesperson Harish Chandra Srivastava said that if someone wants to come personally to the his party or if someone wants to form an alliance in the form of a political party, then there is a process. The person concerned makes the proposal and it is discussed at the level of the party leadership and then the alliance is decided, Srivastava said.