LUCKNOW: Six-time time independent MLA from Kunda constituency and about to complete a quarter of a century in UP politics, former UP minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh aka Raja Bhaiyya is reportedly set to launch a political outfit of his own ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
As per the sources close to the Thakur leader, Raja Bhaiyya close aide Akshay Pratap alias Gopalji has approached the Election Commission of India (ECI) with an application for the registration of the party on behalf of Raja Bhaiyya.
The party is likely to be named as 'Jansatta Party.' The formal announcement of the new party will be made at a rally in Lucknow on November 30, the day when Raja Bhaiyya completes his 25 years in politics, sources said.
Raja Bhaiyya has served as a minister under a different CMs including Kalyan Singh, Ram Prakash Gupta, Rajnath Singh, Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh. He snapped off ties with the Samajwadi Party in April this year after SP president Akhilesh Yadav decided to support the BSP candidate in the Rajya Sabha biennial elections.
Raja Bhaiyya has always been diagonally opposite to BSP chief Mayawati who had sent him to jail in 2003 on charges of conspiring to topple her government and eliminate her. Raja Bhaiyya was booked under POTA and spent 18 months in jail.
However, the political pundits view his step of launching an outfit as a step to "galvanise the upper caste votes" and he may end up helping the BJP in 2019 by preventing a shift in votes to a possible SP-BSP alliance.
In the recent Rajya Sabha polls, he had voted in the favour of the BJP candidate. Raja Bhaiyya's closeness to the BJP is also seen as a fall out of the SP-BSP understanding.
However, his decision to float his party may divide the opposition further ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections after Shivpal Yadav broke away from the SP to form his political party.