Lucknow, Jul 30 (PTI) After parting ways with the Samajwadi Party-led alliance, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party president Om Prakash Rajbhar’s search for a new electoral partner is proving to be a challenge as most parties appear to be wary of trusting him.
Sources in his party said Rajbhar has shown keenness to forge a tie-up with the BSP and the Congress for the 2024 general election, but with little success.
While BSP national convener Akash Anand described him as ”selfish”, state Congress leader Deepak Singh has also questioned Rajbhar’s credibility.
An unfazed Rajbhar questioned their authority to speak on crucial issues like alliance which, he said, could be decided only by Sonia Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi in the Congress party and Mayawati in the BSP.
At the same time, he insisted that his focus was on strengthening his party and that he would consider forging any alliance only close to elections.
Snubbing Rajbhar’s overtures, BSP’s Akash Anand, the nephew of Mayawati, has cautioned people to beware of such “selfish people”.
“The entire world praises the administration and discipline of the Mayawati government. But some opportunistic people are using Behenji’s name for doing politics. One needs to beware of such selfish people,” Anand had tweeted in Hindi recently without taking names.
His comment came after Rajbhar had said “some party leaders are of the view that we should go with the BSP. I also feel the same. The BSP performed well in the recent bypolls held in Azamgarh.” On the chances of his party allying with the SBSP in near future, Congress’ Dipak Singh, a former MLC, told PTI “There has been a lack of credibility. He will have to first prove that he can be trusted.” “The doors of Congress will be open only for those who are trustworthy. Rajbhar has betrayed the Congress once before. This time also he broke the alliance with the SP. Rajbhar has to make himself trustworthy before allying with any party,” Dipak Singh added.
Rajbhar tied up with the BJP just before the 2017 assembly elections. By the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the distance between the two parties increased and they parted ways.
Giving the slogan of opposition unity, SBSP joined the Samajwadi Party-led alliance, but things turned sour after their loss in the 2022 assembly elections.
The alliance broke over the presidential election in which Rajbhar decided to support BJP-backed candidate Droupadi Murmu.
After days of public acrimony, the Samajwadi Party sent a letter to Rajbhar, accusing him of hobnobbing with the BJP and asking him to go wherever he would get more respect.
An alliance with Rajbhar has been useful for parties in the Purvanchal region, where Rajbhar voters make a sizeable number.
The community together constitutes four percent of the state’s population but in districts like Shravasti, Bahraich, Balrampur, Ayodhya, Ambedkar Nagar, Gorakhpur, Sant Kabirnagar, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Deoria, Ballia, Ghazipur, Varanasi, Chandauli, Sonbhadra, they are almost 10 percent.
With the Uttar Pradesh government extending Y category security to him, Rajbhar is being attacked by his erstwhile allies for cosying up to the BJP again.
However, Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Harishchandra Srivastava dismissed the talk of any future alliance with Rajbhar as hypothetical.
“The central leadership takes decisions on such subjects with the consent of the state leadership. As of now, this is a hypothetical question,” Srivastava said.
Asked about the recent remarks by BSP and Congress leaders, Rajbhar said, “Are Dipak Singh and Akash Anand owners of the Congress and the BSP? “Decisions in the Congress will be taken by Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and in the BSP by Mayawati. People keep commenting on such issues only to remain in the news.” Asked if he was looking to join hands with any of these parties, Rajbhar said that “issues related to alliances are raised at election time”.
“There is no election at present. It is time now to work towards strengthening our party and we are doing the same. When the party is strong, several parties will come forward to talk to us,” Rajbhar said.
Rajbhar is said to have been mentored by BSP founder Kanshi Ram. He rallied support from the people of his community and founded SBSP in 2002 after leaving the BSP.
He fielded his candidates on 14 seats in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections with no success.
In the 2007 assembly elections, he worked on bringing smaller parties together. In 2017 assembly polls, he fought with the BJP winning four of the eight seats his party contested and became a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government. The alliance, however, did not last long and fell apart in two years. He fought the 2022 assembly polls with the Samajwadi Party, winning six seats of the 17 seats it got. PTI SAB AR SNS RT RT
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Source: The Print
