Om Prakash Rajbhar finally dares BJP to throw him out'

Lucknow: UP minister and president of the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) Om Prakash Rajbhar has finally thrown a direct and open challenge to the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

He has now challenged the Yogi government to sack him if it can.

“They (BJP) can remove me from the government if they want but they do not have the nerve to do so,” he said while addressing his party workers here.

He said that nobody should threaten him that he would be removed from the Cabinet and added that those pointing fingers at him would have to face consequences.

The minister added that he would not mind if the BJP-SBSP alliance is broken.

For Mr Rajbhar, who has been taking potshots at the BJP since the past one year, this is the first time that he has openly challenged the party to take action against him.

Mr Rajbhar has accused the BJP of overlooking its responsibilities as an alliance partner. He also accused chief minister Yogi Adityanath for paying heed to the ministers of his own party but ignoring those of SBSP.

The minister also warned that if the BJP did not implement the reservation within reservation policy, earmarking quota for most backward castes within the OBC quota by October, then his party would launch an agitation against the BJP from November.

Mr Rajbhar further told his party workers that SBSP would contest all 80- Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections.

“You should remain prepared because if the BJP does not yield to our demands, we will contest all seats on our own”, he said.

SBSP sources said that their leader would demand at least 24 seats for the Lok Sabha and if the BJP did not agree, they would contest on their own.