Rajbhar’s flip-flop over joining hands with BJP

Continuing his flip-flop over joining hands with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Sunday claimed that if the Samajwadi Party tied up with small parties, then the BJP would not get even one seat in eastern Uttar Pradesh in the 2022 assembly elections.

The SBSP leader, who leads the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha as a political front of small parties, had earlier said his outfit could again ally with the BJP if the ruling party picked a backward caste leader as its chief ministerial candidate for next year’s assembly elections.

Rajbhar had recently held long parleys with BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh. Rajbhar had on Wednesday said he would not enter into an alliance with the BJP if the saffron party decided to contest the assembly polls under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s leadership.

The SBSP had contested the 2017 assembly polls in alliance with the BJP but parted ways before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Rajbhar-led party won four seats in the previous assembly polls. Rajbhar was minister in Yogi Adityanath government but was dismissed from the cabinet soon after May 2019 Lok Sabha polls for his anti-BJP diatribes.

“The public is angry with the BJP. If the Samajwadi Party comes forward and ties up with smaller parties and regional parties, then the election results can change,” the SBSP chief said.

“If the SP ties up with the SBSP, then the BJP will not get even a single seat in Mau, Ballia, Ghazipur, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Ambedkar Nagar and other districts. There will be a fight (with the BJP) on only two seats in Varanasi,” the former minister added.

The SBSP chief claimed that of the total 403 seats in the assembly, there were 150 seats in eastern UP.

“People of the state feel that it is only the SP that can challenge the BJP in UP. The Bahujan Samaj Party too has started making moves, but the craze of the BSP is not as intense as that of the SP,” Rajbhar said.

On whether the SBSP has been unable to take forward the agreements with other parties since its formation in 2002, Rajbhar said, “When there is a clash of vested interests, people tend to go away. The smaller parties face financial hardships, and it is because of this reason that the bigger parties lure them. Coalitions have been breaking because of this.”