Rajbhar exposed, quips Shivpal; SBSP says all SP candidates will lose deposits
The SBSP was a BJP ally during the 2017 U.P. assembly elections and Rajbhar was even made a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government
The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) rejoining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has triggered a slanging match between the party and its former ally, the Samajwadi Party (SP).
On Monday, SP national general secretary Shivpal Yadav, in a sharp criticism of the SBSP move, tweeted an eight-second video clip of Om Prakash Rajbhar, the SBSP chief, of the time when he allied with the SP in the run-up to the 2022 U.P. assembly polls. In it, Rajbhar can be heard saying, “Hum BJP ka baaja baja dengey (We’ll make the BJP bite the dust).”
In his tweet in Hindi, Yadav said, “Baaja bajatey-bajatey, khud hi band ban gaye (He wanted to beat them hollow, but now himself stands exposed).”
“Now his community knows his reality. He is no longer the self-styled leader of his community,” he wrote further. On Sunday, Yadav had said: “Only a few days ago OP Rajbhar was making Mayawati the PM. No one knows where he will settle. He will lose his deposit from the Zahurabad constituency and, in fact, will lose from wherever he contests in future.”
Shivpal was among the first SP leaders who took swipes at the SBSP over its decision to return to the NDA’s fold.
Meanwhile, Om Prakash Rajbhar’s son and SBSP general secretary Arun Rajbhar riposted with a tweet: “Shivpal Yadav ji went and joined the SP which had insulted and ousted him unceremoniously... you have no status in the SP. All backward communities, Dalits, and minorities will ensure that all SP candidates lose their deposits (in elections). The SP should answer that in its four governments in the state how many MBCs (most backward classes), Dalits and Muslims benefited.”
The SBSP was a BJP ally during the 2017 U.P. assembly elections and Rajbhar was even made a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government. However, he had a fallout with the BJP and quit his ministership shortly before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Months before the 2022 UP Assembly elections, the SBSP joined the Samajwadi Party alliance and won six seats. However, soon after the poll results, the Rajbhar-led party decided to part ways when the SP failed to clinch power in the state, which led to a bitter and protracted war of words between the two parties.
