UP mantris in war of words, ally threat to fight Guj polls

Lucknow: A war of words between two ministers in the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has taken a serious turn with one minister, belonging to the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, which is a BJP ally, threatening to field independent candidates in the Gujarat Assembly polls.

The minister, Om Prakash Rajbhar, chief of the SBSP, is one of the disgruntled members of the Yogi team.

“Our alliance with the BJP is not at the national level. We also want to contest Assembly polls for some seats in Gujarat with the BJP. A message was sent to BJP president Amit Shah a fortnight back, but we did not get any reply. Our party will contest 12 seats in Vadodara, Vapi and Surat,” he told reporters.

Mr Rajbhar, whose party has four MLAs, has already defied the alliance in the UP municipal elections, where he had fielded his own candidates.

On Monday, Mr Rajbhar crossed swords with another BJP minister, Anil Rajbhar, from his own community.

Minister of state Anil Rajbhar began a scathing attack on Om Prakash Rajbhar, and said at a Mau rally that it was because of the BJP that the SBSP could enjoy the perks of power. He said had it not been for the BJP, Om Prakash Rajbhar would have been a nonentity in politics. “He is selling the poor for a price (an obvious reference to allegations of selling tickets in the civic polls). People should make sure such people are taught a lesson. Waise bhi peela jhanda (SBSP flag) lekar chalne walon ko kaun pooch raha hai?” he asked.

Anil Rajbhar said Mr Om was trying to mislead the Rajbhar community and was projecting the community as alcoholics. This was in reference to recent statements by Mr Om in which he had justified distribution of liquor among his voters.

Responding to the statements at another meeting, Mr Om warned that he moved around with his resignation letter in his pocket. “Those who are levelling allegations against me, they should be ashamed of themselves. I will not bow before such threats and neither will I ever compromise with the interests of the poor and downtrodden”, he said.

He also referred to his counterpart as “monkeys who have danced for Samajwadi leaders” — a reference to the fact that Anil Rajbhar was earlier a member of the Samajwadi Party. This is the first time in the Yogi government that its ministers are openly attacking each other. Om Prakash Rajbhar, however, has been an uncomfortable ally for the BJP. He threatened to stage a dharna seeking removal of an official and then fielded his party candidates in the ongoing municipal elections, leading to clashes with BJP candidates in several districts of eastern UP.

“Om is undoubtedly proving to be handful. We do not want to disturb any alliance as Lok Sabha elections are around the corner, but the SBSP should also learn to stay within its limits”, said a senior state BJP leader. Recordings of the speeches of both ministers have been sent to chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who will see them after returning from his three-day Gujarat tour.