Known for blowing hot and cold against ally Bharatiya Janata Party, Suheldeo Bharat Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar claimed on Monday that he had resigned from the Yogi Adityanath government and it was up to the saffron party to decide on it.
“I tendered resignation as minister on April 13. It is up to the BJP to decide whether to accept or reject it,” Rajbhar, a Cabinet minister in the UP government, said in Ballia on Monday.
“I have nothing to do with the government now,” he said.
The SBSP chief alleged the BJP was misusing his party’s name and flag in the ongoing election. “Even during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s roadshow, the name and flag of SBSP were used. I have filed a complaint in this regard with the Election Commission,” said Rajbhar who has often publicly criticised the BJP.
In April, he had said that his party would contest the Lok Sabha election in UP alone and had announced candidates on 39 seats, prompting BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya to say that “Rajbhar has been with the BJP and will remain with it”.
But he has continued with his criticism of the BJP, alleging it was trying to weaken his party.
On Monday, the SBSP chief claimed the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance would win more seats than the BJP in UP. He had also claimed that the BJP was worried over Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s continuous attacks on it.
Rajbhar has fielded candidates on 39 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state after he failed to have an understanding with the BJP for Lok Sabha polls and has been making adverse comments against the bigger National Democratic Alliance partner.
The Rajbhars constitute around 20 per cent of the Purvanchal population and are regarded as the second-most politically dominant community after Yadavs in eastern UP, parts of which will vote during the sixth and seventh phase polls on May 12 and 19, respectively.
The SBSP won four seats in 2017 UP assembly elections.
Rajbhar had said the BJP was under an impression it could win all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state and 400 seats in the country “but the reality will dawn on May 23”.