Raja Bhaiya faces Mayawati wrath

The Mayawati government sent former minister and independent MLA from Pratapgarh Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya and seven others to jail on Sunday. They have been charged with abduction, attempted murder and other crimes.

The others pushed behind bars with the young mafia-turned-politician include another independent MLA, a Samajwadi Party (SP) legislator and an MP.

The case relates to a block chief election to be held on Wednesday.

The arrests promise to spark off a fresh clash between arch rivals SP and BSP, with SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav announcing a statewide stir. For its part, BSP said SP was patronising mafia.

“I am being framed in this case due to political enmity,” Raja Bhaiya told reporters as he was whisked away from the Pratapgarh CJM court to jail. “These arrests have been made with instructions from the top [Mayawati] to manipulate the block pramukh election,” he said.

The action was initiated after BSP’s block pramukh candidate for Babaganj (Pratapgarh) Manoj Kumar Shukla lodged an FIR alleging that Raja and 12 aides accosted him on Saturday night and threatened him at gun-point to withdraw from the election.

Raja and associates have also been charged with abduction of two block development committee members, who are voters in the election.