BJP leaders accuse ally Om Prakash Rajbhar of misleading people

BJP leaders, including an MP, have accused Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar (of the SBSP) of misleading the poor and making false claims about having an influence over the members of the Rajbhar community.

The Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), led by Rajbhar, is an ally of the ruling BJP in the state.

"Om Prakash Rajbhar has betrayed the Rajbhars," Harinarain Rajbhar, the BJP MP from Ghosi, said at a party programme in the Sikanderpur area here last night.

"In the (2017) Assembly polls, his party, the SBSP, was given eight seats as per the seat-sharing arrangements. While he contested from one, he fielded his son from another and a close relative from yet another seat...the tickets for the remaining seats were given in exchange for money," the MP alleged.

"He is now threatening that he has the Rajbhars in his pocket in view of the coming Lok Sabha polls as he wants to do the same with the seats again," he said.

Speaking at the same programme, a minister of state in the Yogi Adityanath government, Anil Rajbhar, accused Om Prakash Rajbhar of misleading the poor.

The SBSP, led by Om Prakash Rajbhar, the minister for Divyang (differently-abled persons) welfare in the Adityanath government, has four MLAs in the state Assembly. Rajbhar has been claiming that his party has a considerable influence in 200-250 Assembly segments in the eastern parts of the state.