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Kunwar Raghuraj Pratap Singh (born 31 October 1969), popularly known as Raja Bhaiya, is an Indian politician. He is an MLA in the
18th Uttar Pradesh Assembly The Eighteenth Uttar Pradesh Assembly (Eighteenth Vidhan Sabha of Uttar Pradesh) is formed by the members elected in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election. Elections at all the 403 seats of the state, were conducted in seven phas ...
from his native local assembly constituency Kunda on
Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) is a political party in Uttar Pradesh, India, launched by Raghuraj Pratap Singh, commonly known as Raja Bhaiya, in November 2018 at Ramabai Park, Lucknow, during a rally marking his 25 years in politics and after taking ...
ticket. On 16 November 2018, Singh announced he is forming his own party, the Jansatta Dal Loktantrik.


Early life and education

Raja Bhaiya was born on 31 October 1969 in
Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
,
West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
. His father is Uday Pratap Singh and hails from the royal
Bhadri (estate) Bhadri was an estate ( taluqdari) of Oudh, British India. The Taluqdari was controlled by Bisen clan of Rajputs. Now it is part of Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh, India. History During the time of Oudh Government, Bhadri was scene of num ...
of
Oudh The Oudh State (, also Kingdom of Awadh, Kingdom of Oudh, or Awadh State) was a princely state in the Awadh region of North India until its annexation by the British in 1856. The name Oudh, now obsolete, was once the anglicized name of ...
. His grandfather Bajrang Bahadur Singh was the founder vice-chancellor of Pant Nagar Agriculture University and later the second governor of
Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; ; "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen mountain states and is characterized by an extreme landscape featuring several peaks ...
state. Raghuraj was the first in his family to enter politics; his father is largely a recluse. Bajrang Bahadur Singh had no child, so he adopted his nephew Uday Pratap Singh as his son. Raghuraj Singh graduated from
University of Lucknow The University of Lucknow (informally known as Lucknow University, and LU) is a public state university based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Founded in 1920, the University of Lucknow is one of the oldest government owned institutions of higher ed ...
in 1989. He married Bhanvi Kumari Singh on 15 February 1995, with whom he has two sons and two daughters. Singh is an agriculturalist by profession.


Notable election results


2007 Uttar Pradesh election results

In the
2007 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election The 2007 Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly election was held during April–May 2007. It was held to elect a government for the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. Background With 166 million people, U.P. is about the size of France, Germany, an ...
, he was overwhelmingly elected from Kunda with a margin of nearly half the votes cast. over Shiv Prakash Mishra of the Bahujan Samaj Party. He had stood as an Independent. He also wields considerable influence over five assembly constituencies in the Pratapgarh region, as well as some in neighbouring
Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...
. 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." After the 2007 elections, when
Mayawati Kumari Mayawati (born 15 January 1956) is an Indian politician. She has served four separate terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. She is the national president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which focuses on a platform of social cha ...
swept to power with a majority, Raghuraj again came under the police radar.


2017 Uttar Pradesh election results

In the 2017 Assembly election, Raghuraj Pratap Singh defeated his opponent Janki Sharan from the
Bhartiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...
by a huge margin of 103,647 votes and acquired 136,597 votes in total.


2022 Uttar Pradesh election results

In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, Singh representing
Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) is a political party in Uttar Pradesh, India, launched by Raghuraj Pratap Singh, commonly known as Raja Bhaiya, in November 2018 at Ramabai Park, Lucknow, during a rally marking his 25 years in politics and after taking ...
defeated Samajwadi Party's Gulshan Yadav by a margin of 30,315 votes, acquiring a total of 99,612. Singh has consecutively been elected as the representative of Kunda assembly for the seventh time in 2022.


Controversies and conflict


Jailed under POTA in 2002

In 2002, on an FIR filed by a dissident
Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...
(BJP) MLA Puran Singh Bundela of alleged kidnapping and threatening with dire consequences, got Raghuraj arrested on the orders of then Chief Minister
Mayawati Kumari Mayawati (born 15 January 1956) is an Indian politician. She has served four separate terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. She is the national president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which focuses on a platform of social cha ...
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. Subsequently, Akshay managed to get bail, but Raghuraj's pleas were rejected many times.


From jail to cabinet minister

Within 25 minutes of the
Mulayam Singh Yadav Mulayam Singh Yadav (22 November 1939 – 10 October 2022) was an Indian politician, a socialist figure and the founder of the Samajwadi Party. In the course of his political career spanning more than six decades, he served for three terms as ...
'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. Eventually the POTA Act was repealed in 2004, and although the court again refused to release Raghuraj. 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. Eventually R.S. Pandey was killed in a road accident, which is currently being investigated by the CBI. 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, though the threats against him were not specified. In 2018, he voted for the Bharatiya Janta Party in the Rajya Sabha polls against the BSP candidate Dr. Ambedkar. His party contested the Lok Sabha polls alone on two seats of Pratapgarh and Kaushambi.


DSP Zia Ul Haque murder case

On 3 March 2013, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Zia Ul Haq was killed during clashes between villagers and police in Kunda, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya's constituency. Following a complaint by the slain officer's wife, Parveen Azad, Pratapgarh police registered a case against Raja Bhaiya for his alleged involvement in the 'conspiracy' which resulted in the gang war and subsequent murder of the police officer. In the FIR, Parveen said that her husband was killed by the henchmen of Raja Bhaiya. She named Gulshan Yadav, chairman of Kunda Nagar Panchayat, Harion Srivastava, a representative of Raja Bhaiya, and Guddu Singh, Raja Bhaiya's driver as prime accused. She also named two other villagers – Kamta Prasad Pal and Rajesh Kumar Pal. The police registered a murder case against other accused who were named in the FIR. Further, this case was handed over to the elite investigation agency CBI on 7 February 2013 for further investigation. The CBI registered four different cases in the murder of senior police officer Zia-ul-Haq and two others who were shot dead on Saturday in the constituency of former Uttar Pradesh minister, Raja Bhaiya. On 1 August 2013, the CBI filed the final report in the CBI court giving a clean chit to Raja Bhaiya.


Positions held

* Minister in Mulayam Singh Yadav ministry * Minister of Food and Civil Supplies in
Akhilesh Yadav ministry The Akhilesh Yadav ministry was the Council of Ministers in the 16th Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly headed by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. The ministry was formed after the 2012 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, in which the S ...
* Minister in
Kalyan Singh ministry Kalyan Singh (5 January 1932 – 21 August 2021) was an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He served twice as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and as a Member of Parliament. He was the Chief minister of Utt ...
* Minister in Rajnath Singh ministry * Minister in Ram Prakash Gupta ministry


Charity and social work

In November 2019, Singh announced bearing of all the treatment-related expenses for a six year old cancer patient named Vidushi. Every year since 1993, Singh organises collective wedding (''saamuhik vivah'') of hundreds of those girls whose families can't afford marriage expenses.


See also

*
Pratapgarh (Lok Sabha constituency) Pratapgarh Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 80 Lok Sabha parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. Assembly segments Presently, Pratapgarh Lok Sabha constituency comprises five Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan ...
*
List of people from Pratapgarh This is a list of notable personalities from Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. Literature and science * Harivansh Rai Bachchan * Sumitranandan Pant * Imran Pratapgarhi * Nazish Pratapgarhi * Nirjhar Pratapgarhi * Swadesh Bharti * ...
* Bhadri State


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Raghuraj Pratap 1969 births Living people People from Kolkata People from Pratapgarh district, Uttar Pradesh Prisoners and detainees of India Crime in Uttar Pradesh Criminals from Uttar Pradesh POTA detainees Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) politicians Uttar Pradesh MLAs 2017–2022 Uttar Pradesh MLAs 2022–2027