SBSP chief and Uttar Pradesh’s Panchayati Raj Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Friday hit out at Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, accusing him of “betraying” leaders from the backward classes, Dalits and minorities.
Rajbhar, whose party is part of the ruling National Democratic Alliance, said Yadav’s allies are quitting the opposition alliance as he does not want leaders from the backward communities to rise.
“Akhilesh ji does not want to take anyone along. He does not want to allow any person from backward class, Dalit community or minority community to become a leader,” the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief said while speaking to reporters at his party’s office in Rasra here.
“Be it Jayant Chaudhary, Om Prakash Rajbhar, Dara Singh Chauhan, Swami Prasad Maurya (all SP leaders or leaders of parties part of its alliance), everyone is saying the same thing. The SP leaders are betraying the backward class, Dalit community and Muslim class. This is the reason why everyone is leaving him (Akhilesh Yadav),” said Rajbhar.
On Apna Dal (Kameravadi) not being given any Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh under the INDIA bloc, Rajbhar said that if the leaders of Apna Dal (K) want to join the NDA, then they are welcome.
Apna Dal (K) has expressed displeasure over not being given a single seat under the INDIA bloc after Yadav said that “the alliance between Apna Dal (K) and the Samajwadi Party was for the 2022 Assembly polls and not the 2024 elections.”
Rajbhar’s party had contested the 2022 assembly polls in alliance with the Samajwadi Party and won six seats. Later however, he parted ways with the SP. Rajbhar who had contested the 2017 assembly election in UP with the BJP returned to the NDA fold and was sworn in as a minister recently.
Asked about Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the excise policy case, Rajbhar said, “The country’s money has been misused. Action is being taken against Kejriwal only after he was found guilty in the investigation,” he said.
The ED is an autonomous agency and it is doing its work, he added.
Himachal: 3 Independent MLAs who voted for BJP in Rajya Sabha polls submit resignation
Shimla, Mar 22 (PTI) Three independent MLAs in Hiamchal Pradesh, who had voted in favour of the BJP candidate in the recent Rajya Sabha elections, submitted their resignation to the Assembly secretary on Friday.
One of them told reporters that they would join the BJP and contest elections on its ticket.
The three MLAs -- Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur constituency), Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra) and K L Thakur (Nalagarh) -- reached Shimla Friday, met leader of the opposition Jai Ram Thakur and thereafter submitted their resignation.
“We have submitted our resignation. We will join the BJP and contest elections on its ticket,” Hoshiyar Singh told reporters.
The Independent MLAs said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has stooped to such a level that he is targeting the MLAs and their families and registering false cases against them.
The three Independent MLAs, along with six Congress rebels, voted in favour of the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections last month.
