Bahubali, seven-time MLA, ex-minister – Why BJP, SP made beeline for Raja Bhaiya’s Kunda mansion

Lucknow:Seven-time MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh, better known as Raja Bhaiya, is in the spotlight again as both the ruling BJP and the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) have reached out to the Kunda strongman for his help in the Rajya Sabha polls.

The fate of 10 seats will be decided Tuesday with the BJP fielding eight candidates and the SP three. Each candidate needs 37 first preference votes to get elected.

With two MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, Raja Bhaiya’s Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik), or JD(L), is in a position to either help the SP send its third candidate or the BJP’s eighth candidate to the Upper House of Parliament.

While the BJP is comfortably placed to send seven members, its eighth candidate, Sanjay Seth, will need the support from the opposition ranks. The NDA has 288 votes in the 403-member assembly. Seth needs eight extra votes, meaning that only cross-voting can help him win.

As it has 108 MLAs, the SP needs three extra votes to ensure victory of its third candidate. Though two votes from the Congress are likely to go in its favour, the SP will have to depend on outsiders for the other vote. Umashankar Singh, the lone BSP MLA, is unlikely to vote for the SP.

On Tuesday, the SP state president Naresh Uttam Patel met the Kunda strongman at his residence and sought his support for the Rajya Sabha polls. The ‘bahubali’ is said to have remarked that he had devoted 20 years to the SP and that it is not just a political party for him.

A day later, BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary along with UP cooperative minister JPS Rathore met the Kunda MLA at his residence where, sources said, that the Rajya Sabha polls were discussed.

A JD(L) insider privy to the talks told ThePrint that both parties have reached out for support and that a possibility of an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls is also being explored.