Barabanki: It's 'Gathbandhan' veteran vs Mulayam, Maya's trusted aide's son

PL Punia's son, Tanuj, 32, is contesting from Barabanki, that's 28 km from Lucknow, against the SP-BSP veteran, Ram Sagar Rawat and the BJP's Upendra Singh

Until the early 2000s, Panna Lal Punia was “Punia Bhaisaheb” to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president, Mayawati, and before that, “Punia Saheb” to the Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch, Mulayam Singh Yadav. A Dalit from Haryana, in Uttar Pradesh’s officialdom, Punia became a powerful bureaucrat around the time when Dalit officials rose to become the third caste pillar holding aloft the state’s administration with the Brahmins and Kayasthas. He was the principal secretary to both Yadav and Mayawati when they were chief ministers. More resilient than many of his colleagues, Punia dumped Yadav after the BSP pulled out of the