The fate of the ninth candidate of BJP for elections to 10 Rajya Sabha seats is uncertain with its ally Suheldeo Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) announcing that its support for BJP Rajya Sabha nominees was uncertain.
SBSP chief and cabinet minister Om Prakash Rajbhar accused the ruling BJP of ‘not respecting its alliance partners’.
The SBSP has four members in the Assembly and they would be crucial in getting the 9th BJP nominee for Rajya Sabha polls elected.
The remarks of the SBSP chief came on a day when the Yogi government completed one year in office and rolled out grand celebrations on the occasion.
Rajbhar said in lucknow on Monday that \until BJP chief Amit Shah spoke to him and settled the issues raised, his legislators would not participate in Rajya Sabha biennial polls slated for March 23. ``For now we are with the NDA but the BJP is not following coalition dharma,” Rajbhar said.
Eight BJP candidates can win Rajya Sabha polls on the strength of the party in the Assembly while for its ninth candidate, the ruling party needed support of its allies and cross voting.
Talking to reporters in lucknow on Monday, the SBSP chief said that he woudl boycott voting in Rajya Sabha elections if he did not get a chance to speak to BJP president Amit Shah.
The fact that he has come out in the open to voice concerns against the BJP does not augur well for the saffron party.
When asked whether he would vote against BJP in Rajya Sabha polls, Rajbhar denied revealing his stand, saying that his party was yet to take a final stand but he was irked with the way, BJP has behaved with its allies.
Predicting bad days for the BJP, the minister alleged that the ruling party had ‘lost its mental balance in the wake of brute majority that it got in UP Assembly.”
Rajbhar said that his party could have got at least 30,000 votes for the BJP in Phulpur and Gorakhpur lok Sabha by-elections but he was not even asked to campaign leave alone being consulted while finalising the candidates.
“It seems we have no utility for the BJP. The BJP’s humiliating bypoll defeat is a result of its arrogance and reflected that within a year, they have lost the trust of the people,” the SBSP chief said.
Rajbhar accused the BJP government of paying attention only to temples and doing nothing for the poor, backwards, Dalits and farmers. “A lot is being said, claimed and written but on the ground nothing is visible,’’ he added.