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Tag: Om Prakash Rajbhar

  • Rajbhar’s party yet to take call on presidential election, keeps Opposition camp guessing

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW/BALLIA: Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, which has kept ally Samajwadi Party guessing on whom it will vote for in the presidential election, will take a call on Saturday after meeting SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, a party leader said.

    However, SP party leader Udaiveer Singh, whose name was taken by the SBSP leader for finalising the meeting, said “no such meeting has been fixed”.

    As chinks appear in the opposition alliance in Uttar Pradesh, the SBSP has been sending mixed signals on whether its MLAs will vote for opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha or ruling NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu.

    On Tuesday, an SBSP spokesperson maintained that the party still remained part of the SP-led alliance.

    SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar had earlier said he will announce the party s decision on the presidential election on Tuesday after meeting Akhilesh Yadav on the issue and other matters related to the alliance.

    But spokesperson Arun Rajbhar told PTI that a press conference scheduled for the day has been cancelled.

    He said the SBSP chief will soon meet Yadav.

    He said senior SP leader Udaiveer Singh had earlier told the SBSP that Yadav will meet them in a couple of days.

    He suggested that the planned meeting has got delayed because of the death of party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s wife Sadhna Yadav.

    “After having a meeting with Akhilesh Yadav regarding the presidential election, a press conference will be held in Lucknow on July 16,” the SBSP spokesperson, who is party chief’s son, said.

    However, SP leader and former MLC Udaiveer Singh denied claims of the SBSP leader regarding meeting with Akhilesh Yadav.

    “Neither such a meeting is fixed, nor anyone from SBSP has talked to SP or me for seeking the time (from SP Chief),” Singh clarified in a tweet in Hindi.

    Arun Rajbhar earlier maintained that the party remained an ally of the SP.

    “The SBSP is with the SP and will remain with it in the future as well,” he said.

    When asked about a party meeting Tuesday in Ballia s Rasra, he said, “Discussions were held on expanding the party organisation.

    The SBSP chief said that a meeting will be held (with Akhilesh Yadav) by July 16, after which “we will make it clear whom we will vote for,” he said.

    Om Prakash Rajbhar had created a flutter in the opposition camp by attending a dinner hosted by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow last Friday.

    It signalled cracks in the opposition alliance and triggered speculation that Rajbhar could walk out of the coalition that fought the recent assembly election together.

    Shivpal Yadav, who heads the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), formally an SP ally, also attended the dinner hosted for Murmu.

    Jansatta Dal Loktantrik chief Raghuraj Pratap Singh, also known as Raja Bhaiya, and the lone Bahujan Samaj Party MLA in Uttar Pradesh, Uma Shankar Singh, were also present there.

  • Voting begins for last phase of UP polls; 613 candidates in fray on 54 seats

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Voting for the seventh and the last phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections began on Monday morning, with 613 candidates in the fray on 54 seats, including those falling in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary segment Varanasi.

    The fate of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party president Om Prakash Rajbhar and several state ministers will be decided in this round, in which 2.06 crore people are eligible to vote.

    Voting will be held from 7 am to 4 pm on the Chakia (Chandauli), Robertsganj and Duddhi (Sonbhadra) seats while in the rest of the segments, it will continue till 6 pm.

    The districts going to the polls in this phase are Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra.

    Once considered a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party, the region saw the BJP making inroads in 2017 by winning 29 seats.

    The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got six seats and the SP 11.

    For the SP, its patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav made a rare appearance in Jaunpur to drum up support for Lucky Yadav, the son of his long-time associate the late Parasnath Yadav.

    Lucky Yadav is in the fray from the Malhani seat.

    Mulayam had earlier campaigned for his son Akhilesh Yadav in the Karhal Assembly segment of Mainpuri.

    Besides state Tourism Minister Neelkanth Tiwari (Varanasi South), other ministers in the fray in the last leg of the elections are Anil Rajbhar (Shivpur-Varanasi), Ravindra Jaiswal (Varanasi North), Girish Yadav (Jaunpur) and Ramashankar Singh Patel (Marihan-Mirzapur).

    Dara Singh Chauhan, who had resigned from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet and had joined the SP, is contesting from Ghosi in Mau.

    Om Prakash Rajbhar (Zahoorabad), Dhananjay Singh (Malhani-Jaunpur) as the JD(U) candidate, and Abbas Ansari, the son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, from Mau Sadar seat, are contesting in this phase.

    Campaigning in this phase reached its crescendo with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the BJP’s poll blitzkrieg in Varanasi and its adjoining districts.

    Besides addressing election rallies, he also held a roadshow for three Assembly constituencies in his Lok Sabha segment.

    This phase also saw West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee descending on the pilgrim city to hold a joint rally with Akhilesh Yadav and his RLD ally Jayant Chaudhary.

    Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had been camping in Varanasi for about four days.

    She, along with her brother Rahul Gandhi, addressed election meetings, whereas BSP supremo Mayawati campaigned in the district and neighbouring areas.

    Seeking to override anti-incumbency, the ruling party raised issues like forced migration and law and order problems during the previous SP government, while Akhilesh Yadav targeted the BJP government on the issues of inflation, unemployment, stray cattle, and the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s agriculture laws.

    The mowing down of four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri was also highlighted by all opposition parties as Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra is an accused in the case.

    The state has 403 Assembly seats and the results of the elections will be declared on March 10.

  • 18 Uttar Pradesh Ministers will desert Yogi Adityanath’s Cabine by Jan 20: SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: OBC leader Om Prakash Rajbhar on Wednesday claimed that one to two ministers would quit the Yogi Adityanath Cabinet daily and this figure would go up to 18 by January 20.

    Rajbhar made the claim while welcoming the resignation of Uttar Pradesh ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Dara Singh Chauhan.

    “I had realised BJP’s apathy towards Dalits, backwards and the deprived sections of the society in a short time after joining the government in 2017 but these people waited all these days and, left with no hope, are quitting it now,” the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief said.

    Rajbhar has joined hands with the Samajwadi Party for the 2022 assembly elections.

    “One or two wickets of the BJP Cabinet will fall every day and this figure will reach one-and-a-half dozen by January 20,” he said at a programme on a TV channel after the resignation of Forest and Environment Minister Dara Singh Chauhan on Wednesday and that of Maurya a day ago.

    In the last state assembly polls, Rajbhar was an alliance partner of the BJP and his party had won four seats then.

    Rajbhar himself was elected from Zahoorabad in Ghazipur district and was made a minister in the Yogi Adityanath government.

    He, however, had quit the Cabinet in 2019 and broken ties with the saffron party.

    Asked about his claim of one-and-a-half dozen ministers quitting Cabinet in Uttar Pradesh and their names, Rajbhar said, “Everybody will come to know about it as and when it happens. Why shall I name them?” The separation of Rajbhar, Maurya and Chauhan has dented the saffron party’s support among numerically significant non-Yadav, “Other Backward Class” people in the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

    Rajbhar, who attended a meeting of the allies called by SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav during the day, said things were going forward smoothly in the opposition alliance and names of the candidates of grouping would be announced phase-wise “without any hassle.”

  • ‘Multi-colour alliance vs monochrome in UP polls’: Akhilesh attacks BJP

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  A huge crowd of Samajwadi Party workers braved the cold night and lined up here as the fourth leg of the Samajwadi Vijay Rath Yatra culminated in the state capital at 4 am on Thursday after covering almost 350 kilometres from Ghazipur.

    Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, along with allies Om Prakash Rajbhar and Sanjay Chauhan, addressed the gathering at the Zero Point on the Purvanchal Expressway.

    Tweeting a photograph of his supporters standing around the Rath, Akhilesh invoked  famous lines from a Robert Frost poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening: ‘But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep…’

    Attacking the ruling BJP for having a “monochromatic” mindset – saffron — the SP chief said at the rally that he had OP Rajbhar’s yellow with him, the SP’s green and red and soon the green and white of RLD would join him making his alliance a multi-coloured bouquet.

    “We have multiple colours with us, unlike the BJP that just has one colour. Those with one colour won’t represent all and be able to do any good for you,” said Akhilesh.

    Akhilesh’s Yatra is considered the lucky charm by SP. In 2011, the SP chief had embarked on a similar Yatra following which the party formed a full majority government in 2012.

  • Jinnah continues to dominate UP’s political discourse as Yogi now calls Akhilesh Taliban supporter

    By Express News Service

    LUCKNOW:  Hitting out at SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath accused him of being a “Taliban supporter” as he “eulogised Jinnah”. 

    “Those who support Muhammad Ali Jinnah, in a way support the Taliban,” said the CM while attacking the Opposition at a social conference organised by the BJP to strengthen its ground force ahead of the 2022 UP Assembly elections.

    Cautioning against the opposition parties and listing out his government’s achievements, the CM said: “One has to be careful with such people. BJP has done what it said. Article 370 from Kashmir was removed. Today a grand Ram temple is being built in Ayodhya. Before 2014, the benefit of housing scheme was available to those who were close to the people in power, but today the  poor are being given housing without any discrimination.”

    His remark is seen as a veiled dig at the Samajwadi Party (SP).

    Om Prakash Rajbhar, the chief of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an ally of the SP, had on Thursday blamed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for the country’s partition, a day after saying India would have remained unified had Muhammad Ali Jinnah been made its first prime minister.

    Earlier, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had equated Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, with Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru.

    With months to go for the Assembly polls in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Jinnah appears to be dominating the political discourse.

    Addressing the Samajik Pratinidhi Sammelan here, Adityanath said, “Those who are speaking about the partition are in a way extending support to the Taliban. As soon as the Taliban resurfaced in Afghanistan, a number of voices started to come up in its support. When strong action was taken, these voices went soft.”

    “Supporting the Taliban means supporting a power that works against humanity, against Lord Buddha’s message of ‘maitri’ (friendship). Certain people are moving in that direction and we need to be aware of them,” he added.

    The BJP leader said those supporting the Taliban need to learn from the past “We should not forget how Buddha’s statues were destroyed in Bamiyan (in Afghanistan) by the Taliban. Breaking the statues of Buddha means trying to put an end to peace. Twenty years ago, when this incident took place, we thought that one day, they (Taliban) will face ‘durgati’ (misfortune). A few days later, the US dropped bombs on them. Back then, I had said they reaped what they sowed,” he said.

    Without naming any political party, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, “The opposition does not have any issue to raise. Rashtranayak (national hero) Sardar Patel is on one side and Jinnah, who divided the country, is on the other. They support Jinnah and insult Patel. But we support Patel. He is a rashtranayak while Jinnah will remain a villain for centuries. Will you support those supporting Jinnah?”

    Referring to history books, he said, “History never termed emperor Ashoka or Chandragupta Maurya great, but it termed Alexander, who was defeated by Chandragupta Maurya, great. Historians are silent on such issues. However, once the countrymen learn the truth, India will change.”

    Hitting back at Adityanath, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi tweeted, “Hindutva is a fake history factory. Chandragupta and Alexander never met in war. This is yet another example of why we need good public education system. In absence of good schools, Baba-log get to make up facts according to convenience. Baba doesn’t value education and it shows.”

    Showering praises on Narendra Modi, Adityanath said the prime minister is making the country resurgent and the philosophy of “Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat” entails this.

    Addressing a public meeting in Hardoi, the SP chief had said, “Sardar Patel, Father of the Nation Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Jinnah studied in the same institute and became barristers. They helped the country achieve independence and never backed away from any struggle.”

    (With PTI Inputs)

  • Rajbhar to join Akhilesh’s ‘Samajwadi Vijay Yatra’ from UP’s Ghazipur to Azamgarh

    By ANI

    LUCKNOW: Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) National President Om Prakash Rajbhar will join Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav for ‘Samajwadi Vijay Yatra’ on Tuesday, informed the party sources.

    Om Prakash Rajbhar will join Akhilesh Yadav from Ghazipur to Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh for ‘Samajwadi Vijay Yatra’.

    Samajwadi party began this yatra on October 12, ahead of the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.

    Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), a former BJP, have become allies for the 2022 UP assembly polls.

    Earlier on October 9, Yadav had expressed confidence about winning the polls in Uttar Pradesh and said that the people of the state were disappointed with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state.

    “We are again getting an opportunity to hold rath yatra and this time, it is a ‘Vijay Yatra’ of Samajwadi Party. The people of Uttar Pradesh are disappointed with the BJP government,” Yadav had told ANI earlier.

    He further said that his party is optimistic about getting 400 seats and securing a landslide victory.

    “The way BJP is running the government in the state and at the Centre, it is not for the people and they are unhappy with the party. As a result, the Samajwadi party is very optimistic about 400 seats in the upcoming elections,” he added.

  • India would have seen no Partition had Mohammad Ali Jinnah been made first PM: SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar

    Om Prakash Rajbhar said there would have been no partition had Mohammad Ali Jinnah been made the first Prime Minister of India.

  • 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls: Om Prakash Rajbhar’s SBSP seals alliance with Samajwadi Party

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: The realignment of political forces in Uttar Pradesh is taking place at a fast pace now as former minister in the Yogi Adityanath government and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Wednesday sealed a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

    Rajbhar, along with Chief General Secretary of SBSP Arvind Rajbhar, met SP chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow and said that now the SBSP and Samajwadi Party will go together to ensure the defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

    Taking to Twitter after meeting Akhilesh Yadav, Rajbhar posted: “This time, the BJP will be wiped out. Samajwadi Party and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party have come together. The days of the BJP government, which betrayed all sections along with Dalits, backward minorities, are numbered. Had a courtesy meeting with former CM and SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav today.”

    The SBSP chief had recently said that anything was possible in politics and had given hints of rejoining the NDA. He had also kept a list of conditions for the BJP. Rajbhar had also met UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh at his residence some time back fuelling speculation of an alliance with the BJP once again.

    However, interacting with mediapersons later, SBSP national spokesperson Piyush Mishra said the decision on the alliance was final but seat-sharing would be finalised later. He claimed that more and more parties of the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha, which Rajbhar was heading, would also be adjusted in the alliance.

    ALSO READ: SBSP chief Rajbhar hints at return to old alliance with BJP ahead of 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls

    Rajbhar has been spearheading a campaign to take smaller regional and caste-based parties along. He had named a conglomerate of 10 smaller parties as Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha. However, Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM is also a part of the Bhagidari Morcha.

    On the question of AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi being part of the Morcha or not, Mishra said that if required, the SBSP would part ways with AIMIM as things were not yet final regarding the AIMIM coming along with them in the Morcha. It may be recalled that Owaisi has been a strong critic of the Samajwadi Party claiming that it had used Muslims only as a vote bank and had not done anything concrete for their uplift all this while.

    The Rajbhar-led Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha had announced a big rally in Mau on October 27, and it is now expected that Rajbhar may share the stage with Akhilesh, who already has a programme scheduled in neighboring Ghazipur district the same day.

    About seat sharing, Rajbhar said even if the Samajwadi Party did not leave a single seat for the SBSP, he would still contest the 2022 polls in alliance with Akhilesh Yadav.

    Meanwhile, in an official statement, the Samajwadi Party also confirmed joining hands with the SBSP for the 2022 polls. “The Samajwadi government under the leadership of National President Shri Akhilesh Yadav has done countless works for the poor, downtrodden and backward classes, including the underprivileged, exploited, farmers, youth, women, businessmen. Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, which has raised the voice for the rights of the weak, along with the Samajwadi Party, is ready to take UP on the path of development. This is the beginning of the end of the oppressive rule of the BJP,” the party stated. “There are 18-22% Rajbhar voters in Purvanchal with SBSP. The party has influence in more than 150 seats of Purvanchal. There is deep penetration in the assembly seats of Varanasi division, Devipatan division, Gorakhpur division, Azamgarh division of the state. SBSP also has a strong hold on sub-castes like Bansi, Aarkh, Arkvanshi, Kharwar, Kashyap, Pal, Prajapati, Bind, Banjara, Bari, Biar, Vishwakarma, Nai and Paswan,” it added. 

  • SBSP chief Rajbhar hints at return to old alliance with BJP ahead of 2022 Uttar Pradesh polls

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: As the battle for Uttar Pradesh, due early next year, is inching closer, a fast-paced realignment of political forces is taking place. In a surprising move, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar is hinting at a return to his old alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the 2022 assembly polls.

    Rajbhar, who had parted ways with the NDA ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in view of differences over seat allocation, had earlier swore never to go along with the saffron party again, saying it would be no less than committing political suicide for his party.

    Rajbhar, who heads the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha (BSM), a conglomerate of 10 smaller regional groups as well as Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, now claims that if the BJP accepts his demands formulated in the larger interest of society, the BSM was ready to go along with it.

    “In the interest of society, we went to the BJP with the report of the Social Justice Committee, but they did not listen to us. Now, if the BJP accepts it, then we can go with them also,” Rajbhar says. He adds that every possibility must be kept alive in politics.

    Giving an open offer to mainstream parties for an alliance, Rajbhar added that he would go with whichever party accepts the issues raised by the BSM.

    However, as per highly placed sources, Rajbhar has already opened channels for talks with the BJP leadership. Besides accepting the social justice committee report, Rajbhar’s other demands include free education till post-graduation, waiver of domestic electricity bill, prohibition of liquor, border limit of police, weekly leave to police force and same facilities for home guards as police.

    Simultaneously, Rajbhar is also expanding the BSM. After clinching an alliance with the AIMIM, he held talks with estranged Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav who has his own outfit—Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia. Rajbhar has also held talks with Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad. “All these leaders are BJP rivals who had been doing anti-BJP politics all along and could not risk their political future by going along with the NDA. If Rajbhar goes along with the BJP, then his Bhagidari Morcha would disintegrate,” says Prof AK Mishra, a prominent political scientist.

    Prof Mishra adds that the question of Owaisi and Chandrashekhar going with the BJP doesn’t arise. Moreover, Shivpal is still hopeful of stitching some understanding with the Samajwadi Party. “Only Rajbhar along with other members of BSM will go with the BJP,” he observed.

    However, the final declaration on the matter will be made on October 27 in the BSM rally to be held in Mau district. Earlier, Rajbhar was a cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath led NDA government. He had contested the 2017 UP assembly elections in alliance with the BJP but was removed as the minister of Backward Class Welfare in 2019.

  • 2022 UP polls: Rajbhar tapping smaller players to expand Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha’s reach

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Estranged Yogi government minister and president of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) Om Prakash Rajbhar is making all-out efforts to rope in more partners, smaller though,  to his Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha in order to make it a force to reckon in the 2022 assembly elections in UP.

    However, despite having an image of a tough bargainer, Rajbhar has emerged as an ‘untouchable’ among the big political players in UP.

    After stitching an alliance with All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), led by Asaduddin Owaisi, Rajbhar met Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad recently and invited him to join the outfit to expand its reach in the western UP as well.

    “The Bhim Army chief has given his consent to join the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha,” claimed Rajbhar. Azad has formed the Azad Samaj Party in March 2020 to take part in electoral politics.

    Initially, Rajbhar tried to stitch alliances with mainstream parties like Samajwadi Party and even the Congress in order to get acknowledged in the political landscape of Uttar Pradesh ahead of assembly polls but his efforts did not bear fruits since he joined hands with Owaisi.

    ALSO READ | 2022 UP polls: BJP applying its tried and tested strategy of fortifying booths

    Moreover, parties decided to keep Rajbhar at an arm’s length after his meeting with BJP state chief Swatantra Dev Singh last month.

    That meeting annoyed not only AIMIM chief Owaisi, who intends to contest on 100 seats in UP but also shaken the confidence of the likes of the Samajwadi Party. According to a senior Samajwadi Party leader, it was difficult to ascertain which way would Rajbhar go. “There is no guarantee that the SBSP chief will stand with us after winning election in the alliance. In this scenario, going with a person whose loyalty is questionable will not be a wise decision,” he said.

    Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is believed to be completely averse to an alliance with any person who has aligned with AIMIM since he thinks that Owaisi’s party may dent the Muslim vote bank of SP.

    OP Rajbhar’s SBSP had contested Assembly polls in alliance with the BJP and had won four seats in the Assembly for the first time in 2017.

    However, having failed to get favourable responses from the main parties, the Morcha is trying to gain strength by approaching other players in the field.

    AIMIM chief Owaisi is also doing his bit and met Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) president Shivpal Singh Yadav at his Lucknow residence two days back. The political scientist believe that Shivpal Yadav was finding it difficult to join hands with the Bhagidari Morcah or strike an alliance with any other party as he was still waiting for Samajwadi Party to take a call on an alliance with PSPL and that he does not want to jeopardize any possibility.

    The highly placed sources in PSPL claimed that Shivpal was being pressured by SP patriarch and brother Mulayam Singh Yadav to bury the hatchet with Akhilesh Yadav and join hands before the 2022 assembly elections.

    However, Akhilesh has been non-committal on the formal alliance with PSPL saying that his party would consider leaving a few seats for the winnable PSPL candidates.