'Centre's Pressure On Him, Returned To Where He Came From': SP, Congress After Rajbhar Joins NDA

Samajwadi Party hit out at Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar for returning to NDA and said he is under some kind of pressure from the central government.

Samajwadi Party on Sunday said that there is some kind of pressure from the Centre on Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar due to which he decided to join NDA. National Spokesperson of SP Ameeque Jamei said, "When he (Rajbhar) got separated from BJP last time, he had told that he would not join BJP ever, even if he dies because BJP and RSS are against people of backward class." The reaction came after Rajbhar said that his party will contest the next year's Lok Sabha elections as the NDA alliance partner.

"Those who want to go with power, they will not go with people," Samajwadi Party spokesperson Anurag Bhadouria told PTI on Om Prakash Rajbhar-led SBSP joining NDA.

Reacting to the development, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari also hit out at Rajbhar and said the SBSP chief returned to where he came from, 'which is nothing new'. Tiwari also added that one can not predict anything about Rajbhar like where he is today and where he will be tomorrow.

Om Prakash Rajbhar returned to NDA after he met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi.

In a video posted by ANI, he said, "We met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on July 14 and discussed various issues and decided to fight the 2024 elections together. I want to thank PM Modi, HM Amit Shah, CM Yogi Adityanath for taking us along.”

Rajbhar also said his party will attend the NDA meeting in Delhi on July 18. He further said, “The post of minister is not important to me. Now there is no competition in Uttar Pradesh.”

Earlier in the day, he said SBSP and BJP will fight together for the protection of social justice country, security, good governance, deprived, oppressed, backward, Dalits, women, farmers, youth, and every weak class in the state.

Rajbhar’s party SBSP had earlier fought the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in alliance with the BJP.

Later, he was also appointed minister for backward classes welfare in the first Yogi Adityanath Cabinet. However, he resigned after participating in a protest in Ghazipur in which he was demanding the removal of then-district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Khatri. Meanwhile,  SBSP fought the 2022 UP Assembly elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party.