Police raided the residence of jailed Independent legislator Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya today to nab a man wanted in connection with a case in Sultanpur, but the accused was not found there.A police team raided Raja Bhaiyya’s Hazratganj premises in search of the wife of his MLC cousin Akshay Pratap Singh. Singh is also in jail under POTA along with Raja and his father Uday Pratap Singh. Bhaiyya’s wife and mother were alone at the house at the time of the raid.While Singh’s wife Madhurima has a case pending against her, during the Gauriganj bypolls in which a person was killed following a row over casting of votes, political circles here feel the raid was a pre-planned move on part of the Mayawati government to send out the message that people could be coerced to fall in line. ‘‘This is the height of indecency. Such treatment was not meted out even during the Emergency. By sending police to Bhaiyya’s place, she (Mayawati) has tried to warn UP legislators of police action if they do not dance to her tune,’’ alleged SP general secretary Amar Singh. SP leaders, including Shiv Pal Yadav and Ahmed Hasan, also rushed to Bhaiyya’s residence and condemned the police action.Bhaiyya had raised the bugle of protest against the Mayawati government in November last year. He paid the price for walking out of the government and had POTA invoked against him.RLD legislators, seven of whom have criminal cases against them, also apprehend similar treatment. The CM, meanwhile, claimed that there is no threat to her government. Sources said the coalition camp is trying to engineer a split within the RLD by taking help of Samar Pal Singh.The unified Opposition on its part is banking on five rebel BJP legislators against whom the petition for disqualification from the House is still pending with Speaker Kesari Nath Tripathi. ‘‘There is no possibility for the Opposition to topple the government unless it manages a split either in the BJP or in the BSP. That will be a daunting task because the BJP’s strength is 86 while the BSP’s strength is 110,’’ said a BJP leader.
