New parties acting as front organisations in UP ahead of Lok Sabha polls

When independent legislator and former Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh, or ‘Raja Bhaiyya’, was learnt to have met Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath last month, speculation over the matter started immediately.

Since the meeting took place before the November 30 rally in Lucknow by Raja Bhaiyya, the scion of the erstwhile Bhadri estate in Pratapgarh district, to announce his newly floated political party, Jansatta Dal, it was speculated he could ally with the BJP for the Lok Sabha polls next year.

But it turned out to be a courtesy call, but not before hinting at the scheme of things to come in UP amid a fast-changing political landscape, especially juxtaposed against the backdrop of the proposed anti-BJP front, the anti-incumbency of the Narendra Modi government, and faltering economic indicators, viz rising fuel prices and job market squeeze.

The new political front of Raja Bhaiyya has also come on the heels of another brand new political entity, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party, launched by Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav’s estranged uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, a former UP cabinet minister and younger brother of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Both Raja Bhaiyya and Shivpal crafted their solo political ventures after getting disenchanted with the new SP organisation under Akhilesh and his coterie of young leaders.

Nonetheless, the two political outfits are widely perceived as Team B of the BJP to counter the onslaught of a united opposition, especially with the spectre of the SP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) joining hands.

While Shivpal has given a clarion call to SP leaders and socialist leaders feeling neglected under the party’s new leadership, apart from likeminded outfits, to join forces with him, Raja Bhaiyya has the plank of fighting for a casteless social order without discrimination or partisanship and also taking up the cudgels against the provisions of the stringent SC/ST Act.

Besides, Adityanath and Raja Bhaiyya are known to have a cordial relationship and the strongman had even voted for the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls in UP, much to the chagrin of Akhilesh Yadav.

Since 1993, Raja Bhaiyya has represented the Kunda constituency for six consecutive terms and decided to float his own party on completing 25 years in public life. Under the previous BJP regimes, Raja Bhaiyya served in the governments of Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta and Rajnath Singh. Later, he was also a minister in the SP dispensations helmed by Mulayam and Akhilesh, while retaining his independent MLA tag.

While on the one hand, Shivpal alleged humiliation and neglect by the new SP leadership for walking away, the Kunda strongman resented the SP’s plans to tie up with the Mayawati-led BSP. In 2003, when Mayawati was chief minister, Raja Bhaiyya was booked under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) although he was later exonerated by the court. But, the two leaders continue to nurse antipathy towards each other, which they express publicly as well.

Although no BJP leader, Raja Bhaiyya or Shivpal has said anything on their prospective collaboration with the BJP, political pundits say their outfits are generically aimed at denting the SP and BSP while indirectly helping the ruling party.

“Raja Bhaiyya and Shivpal are being used by the BJP as pawns to achieve its political agenda. Their activities are being supported and financed by the BJP and its sister organisations,” Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) UP unit President Ramesh Dixit told Business Standard.

Political commentator Sharat Pradhan concurred. “There is a tacit understanding between Raja Bhaiyya and the BJP. The same goes for the political front floated by Shivpal. These two parties would harm the electoral prospects of the SP and BSP while helping the BJP counter the momentum of their possible pre-poll pact.”

So far, while Raja Bhaiyya has refrained from attacking the BJP government, Shivpal on and off corners the dispensation over sundry issues, including law and order.

Shivpal has announced candidates in 79 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP, barring one in favour of Mulayam if the latter decides to contest. Raja Bhaiyya has also revealed plans to contest the Lok Sabha elections.