Fissures appear in ruling alliance in UP

Fissures in the ruling alliance in Uttar Pradesh came to the fore after Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an alliance partner of the BJP, decided to chart a separate course in the ongoing local body polls and put up its nominees against the saffron party at many places.

The SBSP has fielded six mayoral candidates along with hundreds of nominees for the posts of municipality chairpersons and corporators across the state despite being warned by the BJP.

According to sources, the BJP has taken a very strong view of the SBSP's decision to contest against its official candidates and was considering severing ties with the latter.

UP minister for Home Guards Anil Rajbhar, a senior BJP leader, accused the SBSP president and state minister Om Prakash Rajbhar of ''selling'' tickets of his party.

Om Prakash Rajbhar rejected the allegations and said that the BJP could, if it so desired, break the alliance. ''We are not bothered....the posts do not matter to us,'' Om Prakash said.

Sources said that Om Prakash, whose outfit banked heavily on the support of the 'Rajbhar' community, who were mainly concentrated in the eastern districts of Varanasi, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia and Ghazipur, had demanded six mayoral seats from the BJP along with over 100 other seats in the municipalities but the saffron party did not oblige.

Decision on ties soon

BJP sources said that a decision  on severing ties with the SBSP would be taken soon after the local body polls.

Earlier, Om Prakash had embarrassed his own government. A few months back he had threatened to embark on a 'dharna' against the government demanding immediate removal of Ghazipur district magistrate.

A few days back, the minister had said that the state government had failed to crackdown on corrupt elements in the bureaucracy.

SBSP had contested eight seats in the 2017 UP assembly polls in alliance with the BJP and won four.