After Akhilesh rebuke, Rajbhar says tie-up with SP ends; may ally with BSP

Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Sunday said that his party is no longer in alliance with the Samajwadi Party and indicated that he could be cosying up to the Bahujan Samaj Party.

His remarks came a day after the Samajwadi Party wrote to Rajbhar and Shivpal Singh Yadav that they are free to go wherever they feel they can get more respect.

It had also accused Rajbhar of hobnobbing with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

"Our (SBSP's) alliance with the Samajwadi Party is no more. Akhilesh Yadav is unable to control his uncle Shivpal Yadav and sister-in-law Aparna Yadav, so how will he control me? He does not listen to anyone," Rajbhar told reporters.

He repeated his barb that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was doing politics from "air-conditioned rooms" instead of working in the field.

To a question on forging alliances, the SBSP chief said, "Some party leaders are of the view that we should go with the BSP. I also personally feel that we should speak with the BSP. The BSP performed well in the recent bypolls held in Azamgarh."

He also said that BSP chief "Mayawati spends more time in the field as compared to Akhilesh Yadav."

Rajbhar accused Akhilesh Yadav of bias in the distribution of tickets in the recent UP Assembly elections.

The Samajwadi Party had fought the assembly polls together with Jayant Chaudhary's Rashtriya Lok Dal, Rajbhar's SBSP, Apna Dal-Kamerawadi, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia of Shivpal Yadav, Keshav Dev Maurya's Mahan Dal and the Janwadi Party.

But after the alliance failed to dislodge the BJP, there was speculation about it falling apart.

The Mahan Dal and the Janwadi Party have already severed ties with the SP.

The SP is now left with only RLD and Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) as alliance partners.

Om Prakash Rajbhar's proximity to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was visible in the presidential election.

After the SP's defeat in Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha bypolls, Rajbhar had advised Akhilesh Yadav to go among the people and not do politics from an air-conditioned room.

Rajbhar's party won six seats in the recent state assembly elections.

Rajbhar, a strong backward leader with influence in eastern UP districts, fought the 2017 assembly election in UP with the BJP but later parted ways and joined the SP-led alliance.