Om Prakash Rajbhar has also offered to organise large election rallies in Azamgarh and Basti to blunt the SP surge and connect with minority voters.
Looking to boost NDA’s performance in the politically-significant Uttar Pradesh, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), former ally of the Samajwadi Party, has sought five Lok Sabha seats, out of the state’s 80, in the general elections.
SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar has also offered to organise large election rallies in Azamgarh and Basti districts to blunt the Samajwadi Party surge and connect with the minority voters. SBSP had contested the 2022 UP Assembly elections in alliance with the SP and had won six out of the 17 seats on which it had fielded candidates. Thereafter, the two allies parted ways.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in UP, the BJP had won 62 seats, BSP 10, SP 5, ADS 2 and Congress 1. The SBSP had fielded 39 candidates in these elections against the BJP.
Apart from this, SBSP president Rajbhar has also indicated to the BJP his party’s intention to contest around four Lok Sabha seats in Bihar.
The discussions on LS seat adjustment between the NDA and the SBSP are also likely to yield cooperation and closer understanding between the two in the UP Assembly. The SBSP president, who is a former associate of Mayawati, is a sitting legislator from Zahoorabad seat of Ghazipur and is likely to find a berth in Yogi Adityanath’s Cabinet when the Chief Minister expands his team later this month.
Rajbhar’s son and SBSP’s chief spokesperson Arun Rajbhar has confirmed that his father met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J.P. Nadda in Delhi and discussed seat-sharing earlier last week.
While no decision has yet been taken, sources said the SBSP has shown interest in contesting the LS elections from Ghazipur, Ballia, Mau, Salempur and Chandauli.
The SBSP has emerged as a key player in the caste politics in eastern UP. On an average, eastern UP has 18% Rajbhars, who are mostly landless workers. In some Assembly constituencies of the state, the Rajbhar population is 35% or more. The NDA also gives SBSP a lot of respect due to the party’s ability to influence the election outcome in 30-50 Assembly segments.
In UP, the BJP already has an election tie-up with two other OBC parties, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Nishad Party.
As for Bihar, the SBSP wants the NDA to allow it to field candidates in seats like Valmiki Nagar, Karakat, Nawada and Siwan.
Sources said Rajbhar’s eagerness to align with the NDA is also linked to the limited space left for a party like his in the I.N.D.I.A bloc. After the SBSP’s relations with the SP soured, the party decided to stick with the NDA and look to play a role in the state Assembly as well.