Shouldn't Have Reversed Mayawati’s Decision: Akhilesh Yadav On Raja Bhaiyya

The latest trigger came when Yadav was asked about police action against his party worker Gulshan Yadav.

Gulshan was earlier a close aide of Raja Bhaiyya, but after a bitter fallout, contested the 2022 assembly against him. Gulshan was the SP candidate and Bhaiyya contested from his own political outfit, Jansatta Dal, supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Although Gulshan lost, Raja Bhaiyya’s victory margin was reduced.

“Look at the timeline of cases being lodged against Gulshan Yadav. Since when did they start getting registered and who is behind them," Yadav said, without taking Raja Bhaiyya’s name.

He said that Gulshan was being targeted because he put up a good fight against Raja Bhaiyya during elections.

“Gulshan Yadav is being targeted politically and his financial assets are also being seized. We are with him and also providing legal help to him," Yadav said.

He then said that Raja Bhaiyya will soon lose elections and he regretted undoing Mayawati’s action. “The previous BSP governments had taken some steps against him. We should not have reversed them," he said.

Yadav had a bitter fallout with Raja Bhaiyya in the run-up to the 2008 Rajya Sabha polls, when he, then an independent MLA, turned up at a dinner party hosted by the SP and pledged support to Yadav. The next day, however, he announced support for the BJP.

That triggered a bitter fallout and later Yadav dubbed Raja Bhaiyya as a gangster and during an election rally famously said, “People of Kunda constituency will put a kundi (latch) on the rival candidate".