UTTAR PRADESH

Days before RS polls, Yogi's rebellious ally has BJP nervous

Om Praksh Rajbhar Om Prakash Rajbhar | ANI

A week after its debacle in the bypolls for two Lok Sabha seats, the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh is facing a crisis ahead of the imminent Rajya Sabha elections. This time, the troublemaker happens to be a member of the cabinet of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Om Prakash Rajbhar, a cabinet minister in the Adityanath government, is on the warpath just before the Rajya Sabha polls. Rajbhar has openly revolted against the Adityanath government for ‘step-motherly treatment’ accorded to him by the BJP and his rebellious stance may spoil BJP members' Rajya Sabha poll prospects from UP.

Rajbhar—who represents Zahoorabad Assembly constituency and heads the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), which is an ally of the BJP—has said “unless BJP high command mends its ways, his party members will not cast votes in upcoming Rajya Sabha polls for the BJP.”

The polls are scheduled to be held on March 23; Uttar Pradesh MLAs will vote for 10 seats in the Rajya Sabha.

To give an indication of his dissatisfaction, Rajbhar did not attend a commemorative function organised by the Adityanath government to mark the anniversary of its first year in office on Monday in Lucknow.

Rajbhar has categorically said unless party president Amit Shah talks to him to redress his problems, his MLAs will not vote.

His main grouse is for the last three months is that he has been seeking an appointment with Shah, Adityanath and BJP’s organisational general secretary Sunil Bansal to discuss his problems but they have not agreed to meet him.

Assailing the BJP, he said, “In the present government, dalits and backwards are being exploited and oblivious to their problems, Yogi government is celebrating completion of its one–year rule in the state. We have not been kept in loop for Lok Sabha bypolls, neither were we consulted for Rajya Sabha elections.”

His rebellious stance has worried the BJP and now efforts are on to placate him. On the instructions of Adityanath, another BJP minister, Suresh Khanna, has spoken to Rajbhar. In addition, the BJP's UP in-charge, Om Prakash Mathur, phoned him and said, “The prime minister wanted to know your problem; please come to Delhi for talks.”

But Rajbhar has refused to go to Delhi. The BJP is apprehensive that the party could face further embarrassment if Rajbhar sticks to his stance.

Meanwhile, keeping RS polls in mind, Adityanath and the BJP state head Mahendranath Pandey held marathon meetings with the party leaders and others who have joined the BJP from other parties like Brijesh Pathak, Rita Bahuguna Joshi and Swami Prasad Maurya and issues apart from resolving Rajbhar's grievances were discussed.