OP Rajbhar Shuns Speculations of Meeting Amit Shah, Says Old Photo With Home Minister Being Made Viral

OP Rajbhar Shuns Speculations of Meeting Amit Shah, Says Old Photo With Home Minister Being Made Viral

A former minister in the Yogi Adityanath-led cabinet, Om Prakash Rajbhar is fighting the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in alliance with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party. (Image: PTI/File)

SBSP had contested the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party and won six assembly seats.

News18 Lucknow
Last Updated:March 19, 2022, 13:09 IST
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Qazi Faraz Ahmad

Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party Chief Om Prakash Rajbhar has denied meeting Union Home Minister Amit Shah and top BJP leaders after rumours over the SBSP chief meeting BJP leaders in Delhi.

The denial comes after reports emerged about Rajbhar meeting Amit Shah, Dharmendra Pradhan and Sunil Bansal. However, Rajbhar said that he didn't had any meetings with Amit Shah and an old photo with the Home Minister is getting viral on the internet.

SBSP had contested the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party and won six assembly seats.

Party's National general secretary Arvind Rajbhar has also denied the rumours and claimed that SBSP will stay with the SP alliance.

"All the rumours of SBSP going with BJP are baseless, we were and will stay with SP," wrote Arvind Rajbhar on social media. Echoing the same sentiments, SBSP Spokesperson Piyush Mishra also tweeted, "All such rumours are baseless and we will stay with the SP."

According to reports, OP Rajbhar had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah along with Union Minister and UP election in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP's organization minister Sunil Bansal in a meeting that lasted for about an hour on Friday.

Sources said if everything goes well, then Rajbhar may switch back to the BJP fold and can become a part of the Yogi 2.0 government. The meeting comes ahead of the swearing-in ceremony of the new government in Uttar Pradesh. In the last four days, Rajbhar has met BJP's top leadership twice, they added.

Rajbhar has met and put forward his demands to the BJP leadership and the decision is now awaited with the top leadership of the BJP.

Rajbhar was a former Minister in the previous Yogi Adityanath government in 2017 but had parted ways after two years of government formation alleging the backwards were being ignored by the party.

Experts believe that if Rajbhar switches back to BJP, it may be beneficial for both him and the saffron party in the Purvanchal region as there are over 26 Lok Sabha seats in the region, where there is influence of the Rajbhar society.

At the same time, there are 14 Lok Sabha seats where the vote of the Rajbhar society remains decisive. Keeping the 2024 Lok Sabha Polls in view, the Purvanchal region becomes significant for the BJP.

The Rajbhar community voters are in significant numbers in the Purvanchal region and also have the power to change the political equations in the region. OP Rajbhar, the national president of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, claims to have a strong influence over the politics in the region.

Keeping in mind the 2022 assembly elections results, the BJP appeared strong from West to Awadh. At the same time, BJP could not even open accounts in some of the districts of Purvanchal including Ghazipur, Ambedkar Nagar, Mau, Ballia, Jaunpur and Azamgarh.

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