'No alliance with BJP in UP under Yogi': Rajbhar

Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar said he will not enter into an alliance with the BJP if the saffron party decides to contest the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls under Yogi Adityanath's leadership.

The ex-Uttar Pradesh minister told PTI that the BJP has to accept its certain conditions, including carrying out a caste census in the country and making a leader from backward caste the chief minister of UP, if there is to be any possibility of a tie-up.

Rajbhar, who recently launched the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha as a political front of small parties, said, "There is not going to be an alliance of the BJP with the SBSP."

The Rajbhars constitute 20 per cent of the Poorvanchal population and are regarded as the second-most politically dominant community after the Yadavs in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

"If there is any possibility, then the BJP has to accept our conditions. There should be caste census in the country, the report of the social justice committee should be implemented, the CM should be from backward caste and also the poor must be provided a uniform, mandatory and free education as well as free medical treatment."

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah praising the Yogi Adityanath government, the SBSP chief accused them of showering false praises on the chief minister.

"From this, it appears the BJP will be contesting the next year's Assembly election under the leadership of Yogi Adityanath, and in this situation, we will not enter into any alliance with the BJP," Rajbhar said.

He said on October 27, the SBSP will celebrate its establishment day and declare its decision regarding the Assembly polls. Asked how he will forge an alliance with the BJP since he has criticised it for the past two years, Rajbhar said, "You have seen arch-rivals the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party came together in the 2019 Lok Sabha election."

"Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav shared a stage. The BJP and the PDP had come together in Jammu and Kashmir. We are yet to enter an alliance with the BJP."

On whether this will prompt AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi to part ways from the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha, Rajbhar said, "We are not fighting for power. We are fighting for the rights of the deprived section of the society and I will even drink poison for it if such a need arises." Rajbhar also said, "The Adityanath government has completely failed. When I was a minister, I had gone to Sonbhadra on a tour and told the chief minister about the situation there. He replied that I only complain about the government. Today Sonbhadra had become the number two in terms of malnutrition."

In the 2017 UP Assembly elections, the SBSP was an ally of the BJP and had contested on eight seats. It won four seats. The SBSP parted ways with the BJP in 2019. On his recent meeting with UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh, Rajbhar said, "It was an informal meeting. We meet frequently. When I was a minister and he was the transport minister of UP. Since then, we have been meeting each other."

"This was our fourth meeting since Singh became the UP BJP chief," he said.

 The AIMIM had recently announced that it would contest 100 seats in the Assembly polls next year by tying up with the SBSP and its Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha. After launching the front, Rajbhar had said that its doors were open to Samajwadi Party, BSP and the Congress.