Raebareli: Political temperatures in Raebareli have risen after BJP MLA Aditi Singh’s sharp warning to rivals went viral, exposing the deepening rift within the party’s local unit.
The controversy erupted during an anti-encroachment drive on September 20, when street vendors accused officials of extorting bribes. Singh, the only BJP legislator in this Congress bastion, reached the spot to back the protesting vendors and confronted those allegedly threatening traders and journalists.
“This is my city. If someone threatens vendors or journalists, says they will hit them five times with shoes, we will hit them ten times,” Singh said in a viral video. She alleged harassment by municipal officials and unnamed former representatives, warning she would file an FIR against officials involved in extortion.
Party insiders said Singh’s remarks were aimed at former MLA Rakesh Singh, brother of Horticulture Minister Dinesh Pratap Singh, her key rival in Raebareli. Rakesh Singh had recently posted a social media warning against those “tarnishing his family’s image,” escalating the feud.
District officials defended the drive as necessary to clear traffic bottlenecks, but traders alleged repeated harassment for bribes. Singh insisted vendors cannot be removed without rehabilitation and condemned threats against locals and journalists as “unacceptable and unparliamentary.”
The Aditi Singh–Singh family rivalry runs deep. It dates back to her father Akhilesh Singh’s electoral battles with Dinesh Singh, and has since hardened into a personal and political fault line. Aditi Singh’s 2021 switch from Congress to BJP only sharpened the contest, especially after the party fielded Dinesh Pratap Singh in the Lok Sabha elections.
Senior BJP leaders are trying to project unity, but the viral warning has laid bare factional strife. The opposition has seized on the row, while analysts warn that such personal feuds could hurt BJP’s image and strategy in a politically sensitive district like Raebareli.
With assembly polls due in 2027, Aditi Singh’s aggressive posture and the entrenched family feud are expected to remain central to Raebareli’s politics, challenging the BJP’s ability to contain internal rivalries and maintain cohesion.
