Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Friday met Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav here, ahead of the impending bypolls to 12 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh.
Donning the trademark yellow scarf associated with his party, Rajbhar, a former UP cabinet minister, drove to the SP office and had a meeting with the Yadav for over half-an-hour, but neither of the sides divulged the nature of the talks.
The Assembly by-elections are due in 12 seats in Uttar Pradesh as sitting MLAs got elected to the Lok Sabha in the 2019 parliamentary polls.
The 2022 Assembly elections in the state might have cropped up during the discussion between the two leaders, an SP leader said.
Rajbhars account for around four per cent of the total electorate in the state. The community has a sizable strength in Azamgarh, Mau, Ghosi, Ballia, Salempur, Jaunpur, Lalganj Ghazipur, Deoria and some other seats in the state.
Rajbhars constitute 20 per cent of the Purvanchal population and are regarded as the second-most politically dominant community after Yadavs in the eastern UP.
A leader from the Rajbhar caste — Anil Rajbhar — was elevated as a cabinet minister from minister of stat (independent charge) during the Wednesday's reshuffle of the UP council of ministers.
He was allocated the Backward Class Welfare and Divyangjan Empowerment ministry -- a portfolio held by Om Prakash Rajbhar earlier.
The SBSP had won four seats in the 2017 UP assembly elections, though the party could not open its account in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Om Prakash Rajbhar was dumped from the UP ministry by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath just a day after the Lok Sabha polls ended for making embarrassing statements against the BJP.