SBSP to contest on 8 Assembly seats in alliance with BJP in UP

BALLIA JAN: Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party president Om Prakash Rajbhar has claimed that it will contest on eight Assembly seats under an alliance with BJP for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

BJP chief Amit Shah and UP party affairs incharge Om Mathur have given their assent in this regard yesterday, he said here yesterday.

Rajbhar said he will himself contest from the Mau (Sadar) seat from where mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari of Quami Ekta Dal is the sitting MLA. Samajwadi Party has fielded Altaf Ansari while Manoj Rai is BSP's candidate in the constituency.

His party will also contest from Bansdeeh (Ballia), Zahorabad and Jakhania (Ghazipur), Ramkola (Kushinagar), Ajgara (Varanasi), Mehnagar (Azamgarh) and Shahganj (Jaunpur), he said.

Rajbhar said his son Arvind will contest the Bansdeeh seat from where SP has given ticket to Ram Govind Chaudhary and BSP to Shiv Shankar Chauhan.

He claimed that the alliance of BJP and SBSP will win maximum seats from the eastern region of the state.

SBSP is a little-known party founded by Rajbhar, a former BSP leader. In eastern UP, the Rajbhar community constitutes about 18 per cent of the population.