On Samajwadi Party's 'you're free to go' remark, OP Rajbhar says ‘Talaq kabool…’

Just days after Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle, Shivpal Yadav, and former Uttar Pradesh minister OP Rajbhar were seen at a dinner hosted by Yogi Adityanath for Droupadi Murmu ahead of the presidential elections, rifts are now laying bare. Both Rajbhar and Shivpal Yadav had contested the 2022 February-March UP elections with Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party.

In a letter, amid buzz over growing proximity of the two leaders with the BJP, the Samajwadi Party told them: "You are free to go anywhere you feel you are getting more respect."

Now SBSP (Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar has said: "I welcome the snapping of ties."

He also accused Akhilesh Yadav of betraying the cause of backward communities. “We will continue to fight the fight of the most backward, Akhilesh Yadav doesn't want to fight that fight.

“I had asked him to field the most backwards--Kashyaps, Rajbhars, Khumars in the 2022 UP assembly polls. He did not listen to me. In Azamgarh Lok Sabha by polls also I had asked him to give ticket to most backwards when your Yadav, Muslim formula is not working. But at the end of it he gave a ticket to a Yadav. "

“Akhilesh gave us Talaq, we accept the talaq. Talaq kabool hai,” Rajbhar said in a dramatic response. “Akhilesh has navratras--his advisors. These are the advisors who don't have the ability to win their own booth.”

Samajwadi Party’s senior leader Udaiveer Singh reacted to the developments, saying: "These allies were getting restive to get free, we freed them.”

Rajbhar, earlier a BJP ally, had snapped ties when he was sacked as a state minister.

Meanwhile, Shivpal Yadav’s differences with his nephew had re-emerged after the UP elections results. “Although I was always free, but I sincerely thank you for giving me formal independence by issuing a letter by the Samajwadi Party. Compromising on principles and respect is unacceptable in a political journey,” he tweeted on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the BJP too did not miss the opportunity to target Akhilesh Yadav. “Akhilesh Yadav ji never abides by the coalition dharma. Rahul Gandhi ji, Mayawati ji, Shivpal ji, Rajbhar ji and Keshav Dev Maurya - all were betrayed,” tweeted UP spokesperson Alok Awasthi.