Bharatiya Janata Party’s two allies in Uttar Pradesh — Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Suheldeo Bhartiya Samaj Party — created an embarrassing situation for the ruling party by staying away from the programmes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ghazipur and Varanasi on Saturday.
Varanasi is the parliamentary constituency of the Prime Minister while Apna Dal leader and Union Minister of State for Health, Anupriya Patel, represents the neighbouring Mirzapur constituency in the Lok Sabha.
Ashish Patel, husband of Anupriya Patel and state unit chief of Apna Dal (Sonelal), said his party was “immensely hurt by the arrogant attitude of the BJP leaders in UP” and charged them with “insulting party leaders and the weaker sections of society”. He also announced that till the issues between the two allies were not settled, Apna Dal would not attend any government programme.
Demanding Modi’s intervention in sorting out the increasing divide between the two parties, which contested the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 UP assembly polls together, Patel said his party leaders would not attend the events of the BJP till the issues were settled.
This is the first time that Apna Dal has taken such a tough stance. Other than being miffed at the continuous neglect by the Yogi Adityanath government, the party is also annoyed that Union Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel was not invited to events related to her ministry.
While the Apna Dal has two Lok Sabha MP’s and nine MLAs in the 403-member UP Assembly, the SBSP has three MLAs in the Vidhan Sabha.
The SBSP had already announced that it would boycott the Prime Minister’s programmes. The SBSP claimed that party chief and Backward Classes Welfare Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar’s name was “deliberately omitted from the invitation card”.
Along with Apna Dal, Rajbhar has also expressed his displeasure at being neglected by the bigger National Democratic Alliance partner.
“The arrogant attitude of BJP leaders in UP is insulting weaker sections of society. I appeal to the Prime Minister to intervene. Till the time the matter is solved, we will not be part of any government programmes in the state, including his event in Ghazipur. We are confident that Amit Shah (BJP president) will hear us out,” he said.
“This is nothing new. We have not been attending any programme (of the government) for the last 21 months. We have not attended any BJP programme, be it of the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister. They have not implemented the recommendations of the social justice committee even when just 100 days are left for the Lok Sabha elections,” Rajbhar said.
Meanwhile, the BJP said the rally at Ghazipur was organised to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his efforts for the development of the district.
“While the Prime Minister came to the district to mainly inaugurate a postal stamp on Raja Suheldev and also to lay foundation stone of a medical college and make announcements for the region, the rally was organised to thank him for the development of the region,” said Bhanu Pratap Singh, district president of BJP in Ghazipur.
Political sources said the BJP wanted to showcase its own clout among the Rajbhar community in Ghazipur. Moreover, claiming stake on the legacy of Maharaja Suheldeo is the bone of contention between the two parties. For the BJP, Maharaja Suheldeo is a Hindu icon who fought a 12th century Muslim invader Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud in Bahraich district. Yogi Adityanath government has already announced to build a grand memorial of Maharaja Suheldeo and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address at Ghazipur on Saturday thanked the UP Chief Minister for taking up the project eulogising Maharaja Suheldeo.
The SBSP, on the other hand, pursuing its caste based identity politics, projects Maharaja Suheldeo as an icon of the Rajbhar community.