Shot in arm for BJP with OBC leaders Rajbhar and Chauhan to its fold

Chauhan was an MLA from the Ghosi constituency in Mau district.

The joining of both prominent leaders came as a shot in the arm to the BJP in Uttar Pradesh and a blow for the Samajwadi Party with less than 10 months left to the Lok Sabha elections in (April-May 2024).

The alignment will also help the BJP to send out a message to the OBCs (Other Backward Classes) voters about the party — often considered an upper caste-dominated party — considering them valuable. However, the BJP’s OBC outreach in UP had started with the coalition with the Apna Dal (Sonelal) and the Nishad Party — the parties with a strong OBC voters base in the eastern and central UP.

According to sources privy to the development, the BJP may induct both Rajbhar and Chauhan into the Cabinet of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

“The party may field Chauhan on the Ghosi seat that fell vacant after his resignation. The party may also consider fielding him from Ghosi or Ghazipur in the LS polls. Besides, he will be tasked to establish a strong rapport with his community voters to garner maximum support in the elections,” a BJP leader said

Rajbhar is already a second-term MLA and can be accommodated in the state cabinet, he added.

Interestingly, the SBSP has demanded the Ghosi Lok Sabha seat to field Om Prakash Rajbhar or his younger son Arun, party sources said.

The BJP had lost both Ghazipur and Ghosi seats to the BSP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.]

Of the five Assembly seats falling under the Ghazipur LS constituency, the SP won four and the SBSP one; and of the five Assembly seats under the Ghosi parliamentary constituency, the BJP won the Madhuban seat, the SP won two seats while the SBSP and the BSP one seat each. Chauhan won Ghosi as an SP candidate.

Rajbhar and Chauhan were cabinet ministers in the previous Adityanath government. In 2019, Rajbhar left the alliance and joined the SP for the 2022 Assembly elections. Chauhan joined the SP in January 2022, ahead of the Assembly polls.

“Rajbhar can be given a cabinet berth because SBSP has six MLAs, including Rajbhar, who represents Zahoorabad. He was a cabinet minister in 2017 when his party had only four MLAs. Chauhan, too, is a senior leader and a three-time MP (Rajya Sabha twice and Lok Sabha once). He is a prominent OBC leader, and thus, assumes significance with the LS polls approaching fast,” another BJP leader said.

Asked whether he will join the UP cabinet or get Lok Sabha tickets, Rajbhar said, “I have not demanded anything. I have only come with NDA. I will be able to tell anything after discussions with BJP’s top leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda and UP CM Yogi Adityanath.”

Chauhan told The Indian Express that he would formally join the BJP at the state headquarters in Lucknow Monday. On his induction into the state cabinet or getting a Lok Sabha ticket in 2024, Chauhan said, “I have no idea. Whatever party decides, I will follow.”

Notably, BJP’s other two allies — Apna Dal (S) and Nishad Party — are part of the UP Cabinet.

BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said, “These are the parties with considerable voters base, but they came with the BJP because of the public welfare policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP leadership will decide on issues like seat sharing after discussion with the top leaders of these parties.”