Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar has expressed displeasure over not being invited for a meeting with opposition presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha in Lucknow.
News18 had earlier reported on the growing rift between the Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and his associate Rajbhar. The gap between Rajbhar and Akhilesh has widened after the defeat in Azamgarh and Rampur by-elections.
The SP had called an important meeting with the opposition’s presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha at the party headquarters in Lucknow on Thursday. Rashtriya Lok Dal chief and SP colleague Jayant Chaudhary were also present in the meeting along with senior SP office-bearers. SBSP chief Rajbhar, however, was missing from the stage.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Rajbhar has called a meeting of his six MLAs in Mau.
Asked if there was any disagreement with the SP chief, Rajbhar, in a phone interview with News18, said, “No, nothing like that. I have a pre-scheduled meeting with our MLAs in Mau and we hold review meetings every 15 days. The meeting was to be held on July 1 but could not take place due to rain. So now it is happening today. This includes the officers of the organization as well.”
Rajbhar said, “Only Akhilesh ji can tell” when his “party is in alliance and worked hard for 12 consecutive days in the by-polls and gave his best performance then why was he not invited.”
“If there was respect in the Samajwadi Party, then as you are saying, why did they not invite us? We are not invited just to offend. However, we will remain with the alliance till Akhilesh Yadav himself ends it.
Rajbhar said that after Akhilesh decides that the alliance will no longer work, the party will consider further steps. He said that there will be a meeting with the MLAs on the decision to vote for the Presidential election. He said, ‘On July 12, we have called all our six MLAs for a meeting in this regard. Only then will we reveal about our decision. Maybe, Samajwadi Party will call its alliance partners and tell whom to vote for. However, once they have decided that they will lose, it does not matter whether they call anyone or not.
When asked about resolving issues with the SP chief, OP Rajbhar said, “It is possible when we meet. When he is not meeting his own MLAs, how will he be able to meet MLAs of coalition parties?
Responding whether he was better off with the BJP, Rajbhar said, “Is the BSP a bad party? I think the best party is BSP though we are not in talks with anyone. I speak only what feels right to me.”
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