D. P. Yadav

Dharam Pal Yadav in Hindi धरम पाल यादव is an Indian politician, once described as the "unrivalled don of western Uttar Pradesh".[1] He entered the state politics of Uttar Pradesh initially as a representative of the Samajwadi Party in 1989, held ministerial office. After a period as a representative for his own two-member party, Yadav became associated with the Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati.Samajwadi Party. As a BSP member he fought and lost in the Indian General Election of 2009.

He is married to Umlesh Yadav, who is also an Uttar Pradesh state legislator. In 2007, the family declared assets of Rs. 26 crores and this caused speculation that they might be the richest political family in Uttar Pradesh.[2] These are only his declared assets, otherwise his fortune is estimated to be well over Rs. 500 crores.[3]

Contents

Early life

D. P. Yadav comes from a humble family from the village of Sharfabad in Noida. A son of Tejpal Yadav, who was a farmer, he ran a dairy in Jagdish Nagar and was a milk-hawker who used to sell milk from a bicycle.[3]

Yadav now numerous businesses, including sugar and paper mills, distilleries and other alcohol-related enterprises, hotels and resorts, a television channel, power projects, mines and construction companies. He also owns a college for girls in his native village and is a manager of SK Inter College in Garhi Chaukhandi, Noida. He has two sons and two daughters.

Since 1989, he has served several terms as minister in the state government, Member of Parliament from Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha and MLA. He is also the President of NUBC (National union of Backward Class, SC and ST).

His wife Umlesh Yadav is also an MLA from UP and his nephew, Jitendra Yadav, is MLC from UP in current Mayawati Government.

Charges

Yadav entered the clandestine country liquor trade as a protégé of ex-MLA Mahendra Singh Bhati in the late 1970s. Bhati was then the block pramukh in Ghaziabad. The first criminal charge against Yadav was registered in 1979 in the Kavi Nagar police station of Ghaziabad.[4]

He has been charged in nine murder cases,[5] three cases of attempted murder, two cases of dacoity, many cases of kidnapping for extortion, as well as various crimes under the Excise Act, Gangsters' Act, and even the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act. The cases were filed in the districts of Ghaziabad, Modinagar , Bulandshahr, Moradabad, Badayun, in western Uttar Pradesh, and in Jind and Sirsa districts in Haryana. In one of the cases filed against him in Haryana in the early 1990s, illicit liquor supplied by him was responsible for the death of 350 people.[4][6]

By 1991 after he had entered politics, he had some 25 criminal cases registered against him.

During the BJP regime of chief minister Kalyan Singh, he was arrested under the National Security Act. In 1992 he was accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation of murdering his erstwhile mentor, Bhati, who was at the time MLA for Dadri.[5] This is one of the many unresolved cases pending against him.

Political career

In 1989, DP Yadav joined hands with Mulayam Singh Yadav, who offered him a candidacy from Bulandshahr under his Samajwadi Party. He won and became the minister for Panchayati Raj.

In 2004, Atal Bihari Vajpayee who has an otherwise clean image, faced considerable criticism for having inducted DP Yadav into his Bharatiya Janata Party, under which Yadav served on Indian Parliament's house of elders, the Rajya Sabha.[6] Eventually, BJP terminated their relationship with Yadav after four days of media furore.

In 2007, he formed the Rashtriya Parivartan Dal with his wife. They were the only candidates, and both won in the Uttar Pradesh state assembly elections, 2007 - he from Sahaswan, she from Bisauli, both in western Uttar Pradesh district of Badaun. Later on, he merged his Rashtriya Parivartan Dal into Mayawati's BSP.

In the Indian general elections in Uttar Pradesh, 2009, Yadav joined hands with Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party and fought elections from Badaun (Lok Sabha constituency), but he lost by 33,000 votes to Dharmendra Yadav, nephew of Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Before the Uttar Pradesh Assembly 2012 elections DP Yadav along with his wife Umlesh Yadav joined back Samajwadi Party [7]

References

  1. ^ India Today
  2. ^ "At Rs 26 cr, D P Yadav could be UP’s richest political family". Indian Express. 31 March 2007. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/at-rs-26-cr-d-p-yadav-could-be-ups-richest/27094/. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
  3. ^ a b Khare, Vineet (16 December 2006). "I am DP, Don". Tehelka. http://www.tehelka.com/story_main23.asp?filename=Ne121606_I_am_CS.asp. Retrieved 2011-10-21. 
  4. ^ a b Pradhan, Sharat (25 February 2004). "Who is D P Yadav? A Dossier". Rediff.com. http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/feb/24yadav1.htm. Retrieved 2006-10-19. 
  5. ^ a b When history sheet covered saffron carpet
  6. ^ a b Ramachandran, Sudha (28 February 2004). "India: The crime of politics". Asia Times. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FB28Df04.html. Retrieved 2006-10-19. 
  7. ^ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/West-UP-don-back-in-Samajwadi-Party/articleshow/11316389.cms