BJP in a fix as Apna Dal, SBSP flex muscles in Uttar Pradesh

Differences among the constituents of NDA in Uttar Pradesh came out in the open on Saturday as leaders of both Apna Dal and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) registered their absence at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rally in Ghazipur and Varanasi.

SBSP claimed that the invitation sent to chief OP Rajbhar to attend Ghazipur rally where PM Modi released a postage stamp on Maharaja Suheldev had incomplete name of the King and that Rajbhar was deliberately omitted from the name.

Relations between the SBSP and the BJP are already on a slide for some time now. About a month ago, UP BJP chief Mahendra Nath Pandey had described OM Prakash Rajbhar as a necessary evil who should not be taken seriously. Rajbhar, on the other hand, has claimed that his party does not need any support to win 62 constituencies in UP. Rajbhar has already spoken about his intentions to fight all 80 Lok Sabha seats.

Aware of the growing animosity, the BJP has started propping up its in-house Rajbhar leaders like Harinarain Rajbhar (MP from Ghosi) and Anil Rajbhar (UP minister of Sainik Kalyan, Food processing) to woo the Rajbhar community that has a presence in nearly 125 assembly seats in eastern Uttar Pradesh and constitutes 2.60 percent of state’s population. The BJP used the two leaders to release the postal stamp of Maharaja Suheldev.

Apna Dal, the other key constituent of the alliance, also flexed its muscles, as its chief Ashish Patel, husband of minister in the Modi cabinet Anupriya Patel, also kept out of the two programmes. He blamed the absence on the arrogant attitude of the BJP leaders of UP for insulting weaker sections of the society. Making an appeal to PM Modi to intervene, Patel said, Apna Dal will not be a part of any government programmes till the matter is not resolved.

Patel has also made his intentions clear that his party would not be settling for less than 9 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 elections.

Coinciding with PM Modi’s visit, Patel reportedly claimed that Apna Dal has made a lot of progress since 2014 when it had won two key seats in Mirzapur and Pratapgarh and would like to fight 9 seats in 2019, including PM’s constituency Varanasi. Apna Dal is also eyeing fighting prestigious seats of Phulpur and Domariyaganj.

Already reeling under the weight of three recent losses of Hindi heartland states, the BJP is trying to sort out the crisis before its two-day national executive on January 11-12.