Mulayam Singh Yadav says the law and order situation in UP was worse under Mayawati's rule.

So, who is Raja Bhaiiya? Read this: Raghu Raj Pratap Singh, famously known as Raja Bhaiya was sworn in as a minister in UP for the second time in 2012. For a man, who till March 2012, had 48 criminal cases pending against himself, his meteoric rise has had all the elements of a Bollywood film.

His political career has been pulled in different directions by Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati over the past decade. A stint of Mayawati rule meant Raja Bhaiya had to go to jail and a stint of Mulayam Singh's SP rule meant him becoming a minister, a reflection of the deep Dalit-Thakur divide in UP.

In November 2002, Mayawati as the UP chief minister had slapped POTA charges against Raja Bhaiya on the basis of a complaint by an MLA. But in 2003, within half an hour of Mulayam Singh Yadav taking over as the chief minister, all charges against him were dropped.

In 2007 again when Mayawati became the chief minister of a full majority government, Raja Bhaiya had to cool his heels for almost a year in jail in UP. The script changed again in 2012 when Akhilesh Yadav took over as the Chief Minister and Raja Bhaiya became the minister for jail affairs itself.  More

Also read the 2002 piece on Raja Bhaiiya on rediff.com: Beware! Raja Bhaiya may be watching you