News Analysis India

Tag: SBSP

  • Uttar Pradesh: Mau MLA Abbas Ansari held by ED in money laundering case, produced in MP/MLA court

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Mau MLA Abbas Ansari, son of former MLA and mafia Mukhtar Ansari, was “arrested” by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Prayagraj late on Friday night, said police sources on Saturday. Abbas is an MLA from Mau (Sadar) assembly segment from Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) of OP Rajbhar.

    On Saturday afternoon, the ED officials produced the SBSP MLA in Prayagraj MP/MLA court amid tight security.

    Abbas Ansari has been on the ED scanner over money laundering allegations.  He was summoned by the agency for questioning on Friday afternoon related to a case of money laundering registered against his father in July 2021.

    Abbas appeared in ED’s Prayagraj office on Friday and after a day-long grilling, he was “arrested” and taken to Moti Lal Nehru Divisional (Colvin) Hospital for a medical examination around midnight, said the sources. 

    Abbas’s driver Ravi Kumar Sharma of Ghazipur was also detained along with Abbas. However, ED did not confirm Abbas Ansari’s detention or “arrest” till now officially.

    Significantly, ED had issued summons to over half a dozen relatives and associates of Mukhtar Ansari, lodged in Banda jail, in the money laundering case registered against him in March 2021.

    ED had issued a lookout notice on October 11 against Abbas Ansari and his mother, Mukhtar’s wife, Afshan Ansari. Following this, ED summoned Abbas and his younger brother Umar on May 20 for questioning.

    In response to the summons, Abbas along with his lawyer arrived at the ED office on Friday afternoon. After almost nine-hour of questioning, he was ‘arrested’.

    ED is currently investigating the movable and immovable assets of Mukhtar, his kin and associates, which they allegedly earned through illegal means. Around a dozen places associated with Mukhtar and his relatives have so far been raided by ED in Ghazipur, Lucknow and Delhi.

    ED officials had then also issued notices to Mukhtar’s brother MP Afzal Ansari, brother-in-law Atif Raza, son Abbas Ansari and some other persons including close relatives and associates, and called them for recording their statements. However, Mukhtar’s wife Afshan has been elusive and has failed to respond to ED summons so far.

    Enforcement Directorate teams raided five spots in Ghazipur, four in Lucknow and three in Delhi and seized files related to properties, and transactions along with laptops and several mobile phones recently.

    Abbas Ansari has been absconding in a case lodged against him under Arms Act in the state. While the UP police failed to track him, the Mau MLA moved to Supreme Court to stay on arrest and was given relief by the apex court following which he surfaced in Saifai in mid-October to pay his tributes to SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav who passed away on October 10.

    LUCKNOW: Mau MLA Abbas Ansari, son of former MLA and mafia Mukhtar Ansari, was “arrested” by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Prayagraj late on Friday night, said police sources on Saturday. Abbas is an MLA from Mau (Sadar) assembly segment from Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) of OP Rajbhar.

    On Saturday afternoon, the ED officials produced the SBSP MLA in Prayagraj MP/MLA court amid tight security.

    Abbas Ansari has been on the ED scanner over money laundering allegations.  He was summoned by the agency for questioning on Friday afternoon related to a case of money laundering registered against his father in July 2021.

    Abbas appeared in ED’s Prayagraj office on Friday and after a day-long grilling, he was “arrested” and taken to Moti Lal Nehru Divisional (Colvin) Hospital for a medical examination around midnight, said the sources. 

    Abbas’s driver Ravi Kumar Sharma of Ghazipur was also detained along with Abbas. However, ED did not confirm Abbas Ansari’s detention or “arrest” till now officially.

    Significantly, ED had issued summons to over half a dozen relatives and associates of Mukhtar Ansari, lodged in Banda jail, in the money laundering case registered against him in March 2021.

    ED had issued a lookout notice on October 11 against Abbas Ansari and his mother, Mukhtar’s wife, Afshan Ansari. Following this, ED summoned Abbas and his younger brother Umar on May 20 for questioning.

    In response to the summons, Abbas along with his lawyer arrived at the ED office on Friday afternoon. After almost nine-hour of questioning, he was ‘arrested’.

    ED is currently investigating the movable and immovable assets of Mukhtar, his kin and associates, which they allegedly earned through illegal means. Around a dozen places associated with Mukhtar and his relatives have so far been raided by ED in Ghazipur, Lucknow and Delhi.

    ED officials had then also issued notices to Mukhtar’s brother MP Afzal Ansari, brother-in-law Atif Raza, son Abbas Ansari and some other persons including close relatives and associates, and called them for recording their statements. However, Mukhtar’s wife Afshan has been elusive and has failed to respond to ED summons so far.

    Enforcement Directorate teams raided five spots in Ghazipur, four in Lucknow and three in Delhi and seized files related to properties, and transactions along with laptops and several mobile phones recently.

    Abbas Ansari has been absconding in a case lodged against him under Arms Act in the state. While the UP police failed to track him, the Mau MLA moved to Supreme Court to stay on arrest and was given relief by the apex court following which he surfaced in Saifai in mid-October to pay his tributes to SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav who passed away on October 10.

  • Miffed by SP MLAs’ behaviour in UP Assembly, party ally Rajbhar says it’s against House decorum

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: Taking a line contrary to the strategy of the Samajwadi Party, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief OP Rajbhar, one of the main allies of Akhilesh Yadav, on Monday opposed the behaviour of SP MLAs who resorted to unabated sloganeering and protests inside the House during the joint address of the state Governor on the inaugural day of the first session of the 18th assembly, reconstituted recently.

    The SP MLAs protested in the well of the House during the entire joint address of the Governor Ananadiben Patel. Condemning the behavior of the SP legislators, the SBSP chief said his MLAs did not take part in the protests as he found it against the decorum during the Governor’s address. “This is unbecoming of them (SP MLAs). This culture is not good. My MLAs did not take part in the unruly protests as we do not believe in such practices,” he said.

    The SBSP chief said that the tradition of staging a protest during the Governor’s address should be stopped. “We have stopped it from our side. I have been watching this for the last five years and this is the sixth year and the same behaviour is goingon. I don’t like this. We want to bring about a change in this trend and we have taken the initiative in our own way,” said Rajbhar.

    In fact, Rajbhar’s opposition to the SP MLAs’ behaviour in the house is the second instance in 24 hours where he has flayed his ally. On Sunday evening, the SBSP chief had accused the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav of doing politics by sitting in the comforts of AC.  He had even suggested to the SP chief to shed his comfortable air-conditioned confines and come out to meet people and mingle with them. He added that the SP leaders used to ask him to enlighten Akhilesh Yadav and prompt him to come out in the field. “His (Akhilesh Yadav) leaders want him come out, meet leaders, people and take interest in the organizational work. As they hesitate in telling the SP chief all this, they want me to covey this to him which I did,” said Rajbhar.

    He also charged the SP chief with not giving 100 percent in the recently concluded Assembly elections. “He did not do his best and has still not awakened. I convened four meetings of my party on Sunday. If I can do this, why can’t Akhilesh Yadav,” asserted Rajbhar adding that as he was in alliance with the SP, it was the duty of everyone to toil equally. “We would have been in power today if we had tried well in the 2022 assembly polls as defeat is the reflection of laxity and lack of effort. Have some strength, some substance,” the SBSP chief advised Akhilesh Yadav.

    Akhilesh Yadav has been fighting battles on different fronts. On the one hand, Azam Khan, Abdullah Azam and a number of Muslim leaders along with uncle Shivpal Yadav seem to be disenchanted with his leadership, while on the other, the SBSP chief’s piece of advice has given ammo to his bashers both in and out of the SP to criticise him.

  • 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.”

  • 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.

  • SP-SBSP alliance will support Mukhtar Ansari in Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls: Om Prakash Rajbhar

    The SBSP, which had contested the 2017 assembly elections in alliance with the BJP, has four MLAs at present.

  • As SBSP cozies up to Akhilesh, BJP bags support of seven parties ahead of UP polls

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: A group of seven small parties have announced support to the BJP in the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, close on the heels of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) forming an alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

    SP and SBSP leaders had shared the dais in Mau on Wednesday and announced that they would together trounce the BJP in the 2022 elections.

    The SBSP, the main constituent of the ‘Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha’, and the SP will hold eight rallies in the state in November and these rallies will be addressed by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar told PTI in Ballia on Thursday.

    Meanwhile, the ‘Hissedari Morcha’ comprising seven small parties on Wednesday had announced its support to the BJP in the assembly elections, according to a statement issued by the saffron party.

    Leaders of the seven parties on Wednesday had handed letters to state BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh extending their support.

    The leaders include Kewat Ramdhani Bind of the Bharatiya Manav Samaj Party, Chandra Vanvasi of the Musahar Andolan Manch and Babulal Rajbhar of the Shoshit Samaj Party.

    Others are Krishna Gopal Singh Kashyap of the Manav Hit Party, Bhim Rajbhar of the Bharatiya Suheldev Janata Party, Chandan Singh Chauhan of the Prithviraj Janshakti Party and Mahendra Prajapati of the Bharatiya Samata Samaj Party.

    In the 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP had stitched an alliance with the SBSP.

    The latter was given eight seats of which it won four.

    Though Om Prakash Rajbhar was made a minister in the Uttar Pradesh government, he broke the alliance before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and formed the ‘Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha’, roping in the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) led by Asaduddin Owaisi and some other smaller parties.

    On rumours of a rift with AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, Rajbhar said he had spoken to the latter and requested him to join the newly-formed alliance.

    “Owaisi has assured that he will talk to his people in this regard and inform me about his decision,” Rajbhar said.

    Leaders of the other constituents of the ‘Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha’ — Bhim Army, Jan Adhikar Party, Rashtriya Uday Party, Rashtriya Upekshit Samaj Party and Janata Kranti Party — too did not attend the SP-SBSP rally on Wednesday.

    The SBSP president claimed that he entered into a coalition with the SP on the advice of Owaisi, Shivpal Singh Yadav of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) and Chandrashekhar Azad of the Azad Samaj Party.

    Rajbhar had earlier said that the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha would announce its future course of action on October 27, the SBSP’s foundation day.

    However, the absence of the Morcha’s prominent leaders in Mau on Wednesday has led to speculations of the Sankalp Morcha falling apart with the coming together of the SP and the SBSP.

  • 2022 UP polls: After Rajbhar and Akhilesh seal pact, Owaisi facing tricky situation

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW: The much talked about alliance between the OP Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party for the electoral battle due early next year may indicate a re-alignment of political forces in Uttar Pradesh, but has put a big question mark on the future of the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha (BSM), a conglomerate of 10 very small regional and caste-based groups.

    Significantly, the alliance also leaves Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM in the lurch. The AIMIM was among the first political outfits to join the BSM showing faith in the leadership of OP Rajbhar.

    In fact, the BSM was formed and nurtured with the idea of carving a base among the most and extremely backward castes (MBCs and EBCs) to establish their identity away from dominant backward castes and ensure their representation in power politics.

    After the alliance with the Samajwadi Party, the political credibility of Rajbhar is again under the scanner as after assembling 10 smaller parties under the BSM umbrella, he changed course suddenly and shook hands with the SP leaving other members of the BSM including the AIMIM to fend for themselves.

    Rajbhar has the image of not being a stable political leader. He was once with the BSP but left to protest Mayawati’s functioning. He floated the SBSP before the 2017 polls and made common cause with the BJP on an ideological plank. The BJP-SBSP partnership enabled Rajbhar to expand his clout in east UP, beyond Varanasi and Gorakhpur in 2017. In 2012, Rajbhar’s party had contested around 50 seats, winning none, but in 2017, he along with the BJP fought nine seats, winning four of them.

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

    However, the alliance with the BJP fell apart during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Rajbhar accused the Yogi Adityanath government of not implementing the recommendations of the social justice committee set up to review the re-classification of UP’s backward castes to ensure equal benefits of reservationand level playing field to the MBCs and EBCs.

    After the SBSP-SP alliance, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav will face the challenge of striking a balance among the dominant Yadavs, MBCs and EBCs as he is believed to have promised Rajbhar that the social justice committee’s recommendations would be implemented. Moreover, the seat-sharing between the two allies would not be an easy task as Akhilesh will have to satisfy two major blocks: the SBSP and Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

    On the other hand, for Rajbhar, the going would not be that easy as he would have to bid adieu to Owasi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and other BSM parties. Owaisi has been spinning the wheel of the anti-Samajawadi Party discourse in UP. He is trying to project the SP as a force which has always used Muslims as a vote bank and then forgot about them.

    “In fact, Owaisi has been looking to make the kind of breakthrough he achieved in the Bihar Assembly polls where his party won five seats for the first time. Owaisi had hoped to capitalise on the minority “discomfort” with the SP as Muslims believe that Akhilesh has failed to come out in favour of jailed Azam Khan forcefully,” says Prof AK Mishra, a prominent political scientist. He adds that Owaisi has been looking at the UP elections as an opportunity to widen the AIMIM’s footprint in UP.

    In Uttar Pradesh, it was almost always the SP barring 2007 when Muslims voted for the BSP and the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, when they rooted for the Congress. In the 2017 Assembly election, the AIMIM on its own fought on 38 seats, won nothing and secured a vote share of 0.24 per cent.

    It is a Catch 22 situation for Owaisi as he will have to swallow his pride and co-exist with the SBSP-SP coalition or fight solo and be back at square one. Immediately after stitching an alliance with the SP, the SBSP has started denying Owaisi’s presence in the BSM saying that his party was not a part of it. “He broke our trust the day his party’s UP chief Shaukat Ali announced that the AIMIM will contest 100 seats,” said SBSP national spokesman Piyush Mishra.

    As per highly placed sources, the AIMIM’s Owaisi and Jan Adhikar Party chief Babu Singh Kushwaha may part ways with the BSM after the SBSP-SP alliance. On the other hand, even Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar, in talks with the BSM, has not said anything about his joining the Morcha categorically.

    Even an alliance with the SP does not suit the politics of the Bhim Army which claims to be the voice mainly of Scheduled Castes which have been allegedly tormented by the dominant Yadavs.

  • 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.