Raja Bhaiya gets Food and Civil Supplies portfolio

Controversial independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who was sworn in as the minister recently, was today given charge of Food and Civil Supplies department.

"In consultation with the Chief Minister, Governor has directed to allocate portfolio of Food and Civil Supplies to Raja Bhaiya," a notification issued by Chief Secretary Javed Usmani said.

Till now SP spokesman and Prison Minister Rajendra Chaudhary was holding the additional charge of the department.

Raja Bhaiya, who had to resign from the cabinet after killing of DSP Zia-ul-Haq in Pratapgarh, was reinducted in the Uttar Pradesh ministry on October 11.

44-year-old Raja Bhaiya was sworn in by Governor B L Joshi at Raj Bhawan in the presence of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and senior cabinet minister Mohd Azam Khan.

The former Food and Civil Supplies Minister had to resign from the cabinet after being named by DSP Haq's wife Parveen Azad in the murder case in March.Though CBI gave clean chit to Raja Bhaiya, Azad had filed a protest application against it.