Asaduddin Owaisi remains with Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha: Om Prakash Rajbhar

Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar on Wednesday rubbished reports of his differences with AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and said the AIMIM remains with the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha. Rajbhar's meeting with BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh on Tuesday fuelled speculations that he may again join hands with the saffron party ahead of the 2022 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. The meeting came amid reports of his differences with Owaisi.

Rajbhar told PTI, "I have talked to Owaisi over phone on Tuesday after meeting BJP state president. I have given him details about my meeting with Singh."

Rubbishing reports of his differences with Owaisi, Rajbhar said that he remains with the Morcha -- a coalition of smaller parties.


"We are strengthening the Morcha. On August 7, we will hold a conference of women and backward and most backward castes in Varanasi. Another conference will be held in Allahabad on August 8," he said.

Rajbhar said before meeting the BJP state president, he paid a courtesy visit to Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Monday.

He reiterated that his party "will not ally with the BJP."

Rajbhar, who leads the Morcha, had on Tuesday said his outfit would ally with the BJP if it picks a backward caste leader as its chief minister candidate for next year's assembly polls.

The SBSP leader, once an ally of the BJP, made the remark after a meeting with BJP state president Swatantra Dev Singh and vice-president Dayashankar Singh that he initially described as a "courtesy call".

He first said the chances of an alliance with the BJP are "negligible" and vowed to "root out" the party from the state in next year's elections.

But Rajbhar went on to hold out the possibility of an alliance with the ruling party and BJP's Dayashankar Singh predicted that the two parties will contest the 2022 polls together.

Rajbhar, who had recently launched Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha as a political front of small parties, said, "The BJP is keen to forge an alliance with us. They think it is necessary to enter into an alliance with us to form the government again."

"If our demands, including announcement of a backward caste person as CM candidate, a census to collate the backward caste population, common and compulsory free education are met, then we can consider an alliance," the former minister had said.

BJP state vice-president Dayashankar Singh, who was present in the meeting, had said the talks between the leaders (Rajbhar and Swatantra Dev) were "positive" and claimed that both parties will contest elections together in 2022.

The AIMIM had recently announced that it would contest 100 seats in the polls next year by tying up with Rajbhar-led SBSP and its Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha.

The SBSP had contested the 2017 Assembly polls in alliance with the BJP but parted ways before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Rajbhar-led party won four seats in the previous assembly polls, when it contested as an ally of the BJP. Rajbhar, who was cabinet minister, resigned before the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.

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 UP.

After launching the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha, the SBSP chief had said that it would contest the 2022 assembly polls and that the doors of the front were open for the SP, BSP and Congress.