Raghuraj Pratap Singh

Raja Bhaiya
Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya
Minister of Food & Civil Supplies
In office 15 March 2012-4 March 2013
Member of Legislative Assembly
In office 1993-1996, 1996-2002, 2002-2007, 2007-2012, 2012-present
Constituency	Kunda
Minister of Food and Civil Supplies
In office 2004 - 2007
Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare
In office 1999-2000
Minister of Programme Implementation
In office 1997-1999
Personal details
Born	October 1967 (age 46)[1] Kunda, Pratapgarh, India[1]
Political party	supporting Samajwadi Party
Spouse(s)	Bhanvi Kumari
Children	two son & two daughter
Residence	Kunda, Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh
As of April 25, 2013

Raghuraj Pratap Singh (born 31 October 1968) popularly known as Raja Bhaiya is an independent M.L.A. hails from Bhadri village of Oudh, presently representing fifth term as Member of Legislative Assembly from his native assembly constituency Kunda, Uttar Pradesh.

In 1997, Singh served as Minister of Programme Implementation in BJP's Kalyan Singh government and again was minister in Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh's cabinet in 1999 & 2000.

On 15 March 2012, He was assigned for minister of Food and Civil Supplies Department as well as prison ministry in newly elected Akhilesh Yadav government. but on 4 March 2013 Raghuraj resigns as minister from Akhilesh's cabinet when his name was surfaced in conspiracy murder of Deputy Superintendent Officer Zia Ul Haq in Kunda.

Early life and education

Raghuraj, a Rajput,^[2] was born to Raja Uday Pratap Singh in 1967. His grandfather Raja Bajrang Bahadur Singh was the founder vice chancellor of Pant Nagar Agriculture University and later the second governor of Himachal Pradesh state.^[1] Raghuraj was the first in his family to enter politics; his father is largely a recluse. Raghuraj's grand father had adopted his nephew Raja Uday Pratap Singh as his son.^[1]

Raghuraj completed his primary education from Mahaprabhu Bal Vidayalaya Narayni Asram Shivkuti, Allahabad, high school from Bharat Scout H.S. School in the year 1985, intermediate from Colonel Ganj Inter College Allahabad in the year 1987, and law graduation at Lucknow University.

Political career

Raja Bhaiya's weekly Janta Darbar at Benti village in Kunda

Raja Bhaiya's residence at Benti village in Pratapgarh

He contested and won the state elections from the Kunda seat in 1993, as an Independent. He was officially 26 years old,^[3] but was possibly underage at the time.

In the Indian general election, 1999, he put up Akshay Pratap Singh against the incumbent Ratna Singh (als from a related family). It is in this election that Raghuraj started using strongarm and criminal intimidation tactics.^{[citation needed]} In the years 1997, 1999 and 2000, he was made minister in the BJP governments of Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh respectively. For the 2004 elections, he changed his stand and began supporting Samajwadi Party which made him minister in the 2004 Mulayam Singh Yadav government and the 2012 Akhilesh Yadav government. In March 2013, he had to resign from the Akhilesh Yadav cabinet after he was booked for the murder of Deputy Superintendent of Police Zia-ul-Haque.^[4]

Later he joined politics and became a cabinet minister in the newly elected SP government led by Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akhilesh Yadav. He was assigned the Food and Civil Supplies ministry as well as prison department.

2004 Loksabha election

His cousin and political follower Akshay Pratap Singh alias Gopalji won the 2004 elections to the 14th Lok Sabha from Pratapgarh. Much of his campaign against Congress leader, Ratna Singh (from a related branch of the family), was planned from the jail premises where Raja Bhaiya was incarcerated.^[5]

2007 Elections

In the, Uttar Pradesh state elections, 2007, he was overwhelmingly elected from Kunda with a margin of nearly half the votes cast^[6] over Shiv Prakash Mishra of the Bahujan Samaj Party. He had stood as an Independent, supported by the Samajwadi Party. He also wields considerable influence over five assembly constituencies in the Pratapgarh region, as well as some in neighbouring Bihar. In election rallies in this region where he is present, the actual candidate may never speak or even be mentioned in his speech; "they are all shadows. Raja Bhaiya, alone, is the substance.".^[7]

After the 2007 elections, when Mayawati swept to power with a majority, Raghuraj again came under the police radar.

Controversies and conflict

Jailed under POTA in 2002

In 2002, on an FIR filed by a dissident Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Puran Singh Bundela of alleged kidnapping and threatening with dire consequences, got Raghuraj arrested on the orders of then Chief Minister Mayawati at the early hours about 4:00 a.m. of 2 November 2002. Later Mayawati-led government in Uttar Pradesh declared him a terrorist, and he was sent to jail under Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA), along with his father Uday Pratap Singh and cousin Akshay Pratap Singh.^[8] Subsequently, Akshay managed to get bail, but Raghuraj's pleas were rejected many times.^[5]

From jail to cabinet minister

Within 25 minutes^[9] of the Mulayam Singh Yadav's government coming to power in 2003, all POTA charges against him were dropped. However, the Supreme Court debarred the state government from dismissing POTA charges^[9]

Eventually the POTA act was repealed in 2004, and although the court again refused to release Raghuraj,^[10] he subsequently became a powerful man in the government, and was accused by police officer R.S. Pandey (who led the raid on his house) of having launched a vendetta against him.^[11] Eventually R.S. Pandey was killed in a road accident,^[12] which is currently being investigated by the CBI.^[13]

In 2005, he became the minister for Food and Civil Supplies, and despite his pending criminal cases, he came to be assigned the highest level of security (Z-category) provided by the state,^[14] though the threats against him were not specified.

On 3 March 2013, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Zia Ul Haq was killed during clashes between villagers and police in Uttar Pradesh minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya's constituency, Kunda.Following a complaint by the slain officer's wife, Parveen Azad, Pratapgarh police have registered a case against Raja Bhaiyya for his alleged involvement in the "conspiracy" which resulted in the gang war and subsequent murder of the police officer. In the FIR, Parveen has said her husband was killed by the henchmen of Raja Bhaiyya. She has named Gulshan Yadav, chairman of Kunda Nagar Panchayat, Harion Srivastava, a representative of Raja Bhaiyya and Guddu Singh, Raja Bhaiyya's driver as prime accused. She has also named two other villagers - Kamta Prasad Pal and Rajesh Kumar Pal. The police have registered a murder case against other accused who were named in the FIR. Further this case was handed over to elite investigation agency CBI on dated-07.2.2013 for further investigation. ^[15] On 1 August 2013, the CBI filed the final report in the CBI court giving clean chit to Raja Bhaiya.^[16]

See also

• Pratapgarh (Lok Sabha constituency)
• List of people from Pratapgarh
• Pratapgarh (princely state)

References

External links

• The secret of Raja Bhaiya's success Rediff - February 20, 2002
• Raha Bhaiya Outlook
• Raja Bhaiya Youth Brigade (Official Facebook Page)