Kunda: Once considered a close aide of Raghuraj Pratap Singh aka Raja Bhaiya, Gushan Yadav, who entered politics under his guidance is now contesting against him as a Samajwadi Party candidate. This is after a gap of 15 years, Samajwadi Party has fielded any candidate from Kunda after Raja Bhaiya’s relations with former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav turned sour during the Rajya Sabha elections in 2018.
Speaking to The New Indian, at his party office in Kunda, Yadav said, “I want to say that I don’t have any personal fight with anyone. And Samajwadi Party is winning not only from Kunda assembly seat but also from Baba Ganj assembly seat by a huge margin.”
Yadav, 38, was responding to a question about people’s response against the sitting MLA Raja Bhaiya. Raja Bhaiya’s clout is also visible in neighbouring Baba Ganj’s assembly seat as one of the aides Vinod Saroj is also contesting from the seat from Lok Jansatta Party floated by him in November 2018.
Since 1993, Raja Bhaiya’s nominated leaders had won from Baba Ganj assembly seat. And it is also said that Raja Bhaiya focuses more on the Baba Ganj assembly seat than his own Kunda assembly seat.
When asked about the serious accusations he made against Raja Bhaiya of threat to him and his family members on Twitter, the Samajwadi Party leader said skepticly responded, “A person goes to see a doctor for treatment, if he is ill.”
When asked about his relationship with Raja Bhaiya, with whom he was also associated for a long, Yadav refused to comment.
replying to a question on his priorities if elected from the seat on March 10, Yadav said, “If I am elected from this seat, I will ensure the cold storage which was shut years ago, starts functioning and certain Brahmin families, who had migrated from Kunda are brought back. Besides these, I will work to improve education, and health facilities are on my priority list.”
When pressed further whether he will script history by defeating six-time sitting MLA Raja Bhaiya, who has been Minister in Samajwadi Party and BJP governments in the state, Yadav without naming the Kunda royal family member, said, “They (Raja Bhaiya) had the blessings of Samajwadi Party family that they kept on winning elections but this time things are different as Samajwadi Party is going to win from Kunda as well as Baba Ganj assembly seat.”
To another question that Raja Bhaiya has been campaigning aggressively from Kunda, he said, “Few kept on fighting (with support of) BJP and Samajwadi Party and people from other parties did not field their candidates. But this time Samajwadi Party has fielded a candidate from this seat and one can see the wind of change is visible here.”
Even Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav addressed a public meeting in Pratapgarh for his party candidate Yadav and said that the people of Kunda have been facing injustice for a long. Just before the Assembly elections were announced, at a function in the Pratapgarh district, Akhilesh Yadav had responded to questions about Raghuraj Pratap Singh with the snub “Raja Bhaiya, who?”
Meanwhile, Yadav is also a history-sheeter, with 21 cases against him, including one filed recently over comments against Raja Bhaiya. Yadav’s younger brother Chhabinath, who is also in the Samajwadi Party had got out on bail recently, while his wife Seema is the Kunda Nagar Panchayat chairperson.
The Pratapgarh police have deployed six policemen for Yadav’s security after he claimed a threat to his life, which was available with him when the team of The New Indian visited his election office.
Even Yadav was named as one of the accused in the 2012 Dy SP Xia Ul Haq murder case along with Raja Bhaiya. He also spent some years in jail and was released on bail last year. Polling in Pratapgarh will take place on February 27 in the fight phase.