Former minister and Independent MLA, Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya called on Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav at his residence. The 15-minute meeting left rumour mills rolling about the Kunda MLA possibly reaching out to the Samajwadi Party ahead of the crucial 2022 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. In an exclusive interview to , Raja Bhaiyya described his meeting with SP founder as a part of a relationship which was beyond politics. In response to a question, he said Jansatta Dal Loktantrik — the party he floated — was not averse to politics of alliance, but with a respectable seat-sharing formula. Excerpts of the interview:
Q: You called on Mulayam Singh Yadav earlier in the day. How will you describe this meeting?
A: Even among politicians, some relationships are beyond politics. I visit Netaji (as Mulayam Singh Yadav is fondly referred to) on his birthday every year and seek his blessings. Be it my birthday, Holi or Diwali, he calls me up and wishes me. It is mutual. This has been the practice for years now. This time on his birthday I was not around, so I visited him today.
Q: You were a member of the Akhilesh Yadav cabinet during the SP regime till you went ahead and supported the BJP in the Rajya Sabha polls after which the SP chief said you were no longer with him? What is the current status of your relationship with him?
A: I have "normal" relations with him now. The only issue was that I was not comfortable with SP joining hands with the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls for reasons which are common knowledge. That was the only decision of the SP chief that I did not agree with. Today almost all senior SP leaders including the SP president agree that the decision of alliance with BSP was wrong.
Q: In the Rajya Sabha elections held in March 2018, you voted for the BJP candidate.
A: I wouldn’t have voted for the BSP candidate. I said I was with Akhilesh Yadav but it was assumed that I would vote for BSP candidate as well who was supported by the SP.
Q: You were seen siding with the BJP and have been all praises for chief minister Yogi Adityanath?
A: People who want to see me standing with the BJP conveniently overlook the fact that we fought the 2019 Lok Sabha polls against BJP from Pratapgarh and Kaushambi. In Kunda and Babaganj assembly segments of Kaushambi our candidate got maximum votes while BJP stood second and SP-BSP combine finished third. About me meeting Yogi Adityanath, I am a sitting MLA and required to meet the CM for issues related to my constituency.
Q: You have always contested assembly polls as an Independent candidate. This is the first time that you will take part in state elections under the banner of Jansatta Dal Loktantrik. What are your party’s views about alliance politics?
A: Jansatta Dal Loktantrik (JD-L) was founded on November 30, 2018 to mark 25 years of my serving as MLA for six terms. This will be the first assembly election that we will contest under the banner of our party. The JD-L is open to the politics of alliance and provides a respectable seat-sharing formula in the light of the fact that we have had at least 3 sitting MLAs in every assembly for over two decades now. What makes JD-L’s politics different from other small or new parties is that we already have three sitting MLAs who have a pretty long experience of electoral politics and winning elections unlike other small or new parties who seek alliance to make their assembly or parliament debut.
Q: Your party has announced that it is preparing to contest the 2022 assembly polls from 100 odd seats in the state. Is it a tactic to position yourself in case of an alliance?
A: There are no talks of alliance with anyone till now. As a party we had to start our preparations for the assembly polls. So we went ahead and shortlisted 100 seats which suited our local equations. It is not about political positioning at all
