Lucknow: The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav today indicated that Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who had promised him to support the BSP candidate in Rajya Sabha polls, does not appear to be on his side anymore.
The SP President comments came days after reports had suggested that Raja Bhaiya, an independent legislator from Kunda, did not vote for BSP candidate Bhim Rao Ambedkar in the March 23 polls despite assuring Yadav to do so.
Raja Bhaiya was present at the dinner hosted by the SP before the polls and had said he was with Yadav. He had also met Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during the polls.
Yadav had tweeted a photograph of him with Raja Bhaiya, thanking him for his support. He later deleted the tweet.
The SP had reached an understanding with the BSP to ensure the candidate put up by Mayawati’s party is elected from one of the 10 seats that went to the polls in the state.
Akhilesh Yadav indicates Raja Bhaiya does not appear to be on his side:
Asked why he deleted the photograph, Yadav said: “Tweet is an expression of your feeling. If the information is true that we did not get his support, we deleted the tweet.”
“What’s wrong in this,” he said. “At least it should be clear. If you are with me, you stand with me and if you are against – stay away.”
Stating that he did not want to say anything more on Raja Bhaiya, Yadav said: “It’s good that eyes are opened. It does not seem that he (Raja Bhaiya) was with us.”
After the results of the Rajya Sabha polls were announced, Mayawati had said that Yadav should not have trusted Raja Bhaiya to help them win the election.
“He made a mistake in relying on Raja Bhaiya,” she had said. Raja Bhaiya and Mayawati has had a rocky relationship.
The BSP candidate received 32 first preference votes, five short of the required number to get a Rajya Sabha berth. He lost to BJP’s Anil Kumar Agarwal after counting of second preference of votes.
