Uttar Pradesh: Now security cover for ally Rajbhar, SP says can’t get clearer, he is with BJP

Another SP leader said, “The kind of leader he is, It is difficult for him to stay in Opposition, and hence after the SP lost the elections, he started meeting BJP leaders.”

Earlier this year, after the BJP return to power with an absolute majority, Rajbhar criticised Akhilesh Yadav, claiming that the SP president does not get out of air-conditioned rooms to lead struggles against the government. An irked Akhilesh on July 5 responded to his ally’s comment saying that “the SP does not require anyone’s advice” and that “a lot of times politics is done from the background”. Asked who might be behind Rajbhar, the SP president said, “I don’t know. In today’s time, you can’t know.”

Three days later, Rajbhar’s proximity to the BJP became more evident when he attended a dinner Yogi Adityanath hosted in Murmu’s honour in Lucknow. On July 15, Rajbhar formally announced that the SBSP was going to support the NDA candidate while the SP made it public that it would support Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha.

At the press conference last week, the SBSP chief claimed that the alliance with the SP would continue and a decision would be made “when the time comes”. He told reporters that the SP did not require him and also said he was unhappy with Akhilesh not inviting him for a July 7 meeting on the presidential election. While RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary was invited, he was not, Rajbhar said.

“I don’t feel the need to go there (SP). And one statement by me, I didn’t say anything wrong. I had spoken of leaving the AC and fighting outside. On this, we got a message that we should manage our own (affairs) and they will see their own matters,” said the SBSP chief.

On Friday, Rajbhar said the government order was issued on July 15, three days before the presidential election. “I would like to thank the chief minister for according Y-category security to me.” The SBSP leader also alleged at least 10 SP MLAs and its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) cross-voted in the election.

After the government’s announcement, SBSP national general secretary Arvind Rajbhar tweeted that the party’s workers had submitted memoranda to the Adityanath-led administration on the matter. “Regarding honourable Om Prakash Rajbhar’s security, SBSP workers had given multiple memorandums to the government and informed them about the recent incident in Ghazipur. Even Akhilesh Yadav had supported it and had requested security for him,” he wrote.

Arvind Rajbhar was referring to an attack on his party chief on March 8 in a village in Ghazipur’s Zahoorabad Assembly constituency, which he won. At the time, Rajbhar blamed the BJP for the attack. The police subsequently filed a case against SBSP workers and locals who allegedly attacked him. Following the incident, Akhilesh alleged that proper security arrangements were not being made for Rajbhar and demanded security cover for his now-estranged ally.

Umbrella alliance

If Rajbhar shifts to the BJP’s side, in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls he will influence votes in the crucial eastern UP belt where the party enjoys support from Backward and Most Backward Castes (MBCs). Unlike 2017, when the BJP swept eastern UP, the SBSP helped the SP get a better share of seats in the region in the polls earlier this year.

Also, Rajbhar’s exit will signal almost an end for the umbrella alliance that Akhilesh stitched together in the run-up to the Assembly polls. With Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) having already hinted that it was not with the SP and the Mahan Dal led by Keshav Dev Maurya having quit the alliance, only the RLD is left standing by the SP’s side.