ET BureauLucknow: In Pratapgarh's Kunda -- a bastion of alleged strongman Kunwar Raghunath Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya -- there is an effort to promote a 'Thakur versus Yadav' narrative to edge out the decades-old 'Raja versus others' story. This is because after years, the Samajwadi Party, a former political ally of Singh, has decided to field a candidate -- Singh's former aide Gulshan Yadav -- against Singh himself.
SP has not fielded any candidate against Singh for two decades. Singh had been a minister in both the Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav governments. However, the two fell out when Raja bhaiyya allegedly voted in favour of the BJP Rajya Sabha candidate in 2018. The animosity is seen to have grown with time with Akhilesh Yadav refusing to recognise him in public last year in his own borough of Pratapgarh, saying "Raja bhaiya...who?" Raja bhaiya then founded his own party, the Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, in 2018 and is contesting on 18 seats this time.
The SP is trying hard to draw support, banking largely on its Yadav-Muslim equation. In this constituency, which has about 3.51 lakh voters, the most dominant bloc is the Yadavs (constituting 80,000), followed by Brahmins and Patels. There are only about 10,000 Thakurs. This points to the fact that Raja Bhaiyya, who won with more than 1.35 lakh votes in 2017, and whose margins have only increased with the years, is not dependent on caste affiliations that rule the rest of the state. Gulshan Yadav is a former nagar panchayat chairman . BJP, on the other hand, has nominated Sindhuja Mishra, wife of Shiv Prakash Mishra Senani who has fought against Yadav, representing the BSP. BSP has nominated Mohammad Faheem.
"Maybe he will not win with 1.5 lakh votes this time -- a target that the locals here wanted him to knock off, but there is no defeating Raja bhaiya," Saurabh Singh, village head, said.
SP has not fielded any candidate against Singh for two decades. Singh had been a minister in both the Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav governments. However, the two fell out when Raja bhaiyya allegedly voted in favour of the BJP Rajya Sabha candidate in 2018. The animosity is seen to have grown with time with Akhilesh Yadav refusing to recognise him in public last year in his own borough of Pratapgarh, saying "Raja bhaiya...who?" Raja bhaiya then founded his own party, the Jansatta Dal Loktantrik, in 2018 and is contesting on 18 seats this time.
The SP is trying hard to draw support, banking largely on its Yadav-Muslim equation. In this constituency, which has about 3.51 lakh voters, the most dominant bloc is the Yadavs (constituting 80,000), followed by Brahmins and Patels. There are only about 10,000 Thakurs. This points to the fact that Raja Bhaiyya, who won with more than 1.35 lakh votes in 2017, and whose margins have only increased with the years, is not dependent on caste affiliations that rule the rest of the state. Gulshan Yadav is a former nagar panchayat chairman . BJP, on the other hand, has nominated Sindhuja Mishra, wife of Shiv Prakash Mishra Senani who has fought against Yadav, representing the BSP. BSP has nominated Mohammad Faheem.
"Maybe he will not win with 1.5 lakh votes this time -- a target that the locals here wanted him to knock off, but there is no defeating Raja bhaiya," Saurabh Singh, village head, said.
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