Lucknow: Samajwadi Party ally Om Prakash Rajbhar's Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party on Friday announced it will support NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu in the presidential election, a move that exposed cracks in the opposition alliance. Rajbhar said the party made the decision after appeals by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Murmu herself and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
The SBSP chief, however, maintained that his six-MLA party is still part of the opposition grouping that fought the recent UP Assembly elections together. "I am still in alliance with the Samajwadi Party. In the presidential election, my party is supporting the NDA candidate Droupadi Murmu," he said.
The announcement was welcomed by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and slammed by the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP. "Murmu herself told me that she hails from the lowest strata of society and sought my support. Similar appeals were made by the chief minister. I told them that a decision will be taken after holding consultations with party MLAs on July 12," Rajbhar told reporters.
When the matter was taken up in the party forum, everybody unanimously said Murmu should be supported in the July 18 presidential election," he said. He expressed disappointment over the SP not inviting him to its July 7 press conference on the opposition's joint candidate Yashwant Sinha. "Akhilesh ji did not think about me or the vote," he said.
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Rajbhar has earlier said he sought time with Akhilesh Yadav to discuss the presidential election and matters related to the alliance, and waited for the meeting to take place. The SBSP leader claimed he got no response for the SP chief and the party took its decision after meeting Amit Shah and Adityanath. Rajbhar said he got a call from Amit Shah asking him to announce his decision at a press conference.
The SBSP leader insisted that there are no hard feelings between him and Yadav and as of now there is no chance that he will go the BJP. But asked whether he will ally with the SP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Rajbhar said it will be decided when the times come. He also mocked Yadav, saying the SP leader was by surrounded by 'navratnas'.
The SBSP chief also made it clear that Abbas Ansari, party MLA and son of jailed ex-MLA Mukhtar Ansari will vote for Murmu. Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak termed the step taken by Rajbhar as "worth welcoming". SP spokesperson Rajpal Kashyap told PTI said it appeared that Rajbhar had been in touch with the BJP. Secondly, who is he to give advice to our party? A number of people of his party are leaving it," he added.
Another SP leader Udayveer Singh rejected Rajbhar's claim that he was asked to fix a meeting with the SP president. The opposition Samajwadi Party had fought the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly polls together with Jayant Chaudhary's RLD, Rajbhar's SBSP, Apna Dal (Kamerawadi), Keshav Dev Maurya's Mahan Dal and the Janwadi Party.
The Mahan Dal and the Janwadi Party have already severed ties with the SP. Apart from the SBSP, Shivpal Yadav's Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia also appears to be inching closer to the BJP over the past few months. (PTI)
