Facing gang rape charges, Prajapati goes on mission reconciliation

Every outsider is seen with suspicion at the Amethi residence of UP minister Gayatri Prajapati. With the minister rumoured to have gone underground fearing police arrest in an alleged gang rape case, a meeting with him seems impossible.

A request for appointment is turned down with a curt “No”. On insistence, his son Anil asks several questions and then gives the phone number of the minister’s aide, who in turn does another round of grilling.

After convincing him, comes a 30-minute drive to the house of Mishrauli Bargaon village head.

Dismissing the charges as a conspiracy by the BJP, Prajapati said he had filed an application in the SC to present his side.

“Since BJP is not able to win the seat and I am working for at least 17 castes from the weaker section that was assigned to me by my party, they implicated me in a false case to ruin my political career. But I will continue to fight against the feudal forces,” he said.

H e is now on a mission reconciliation to placate those upset with him. Prajapati hit headlines when chief minister Akhilesh Yadav dropped him from the cabinet on corruption charges last September amid a feud with uncle Shivpal Yadav. The chief minister re-inducted him into the cabinet apparently after his father Mulayam Singh Yadav exerted pressure.

Meanwhile, Anil Kumar Singh, a local BJP leader, said the entire state knew about the “game of mining tenders” during his tenure and how he “amassed wealth in the past five years”.