Alliance partner may hit BJP prospects in eastern UP

Battling hard to retain its hold in the eastern Uttar Pradesh region, which it had swept in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, in the face of the formidable SP-BSP-RLD grand alliance, BJP is facing a new challenge from its own alliance partner and state minister Om Prakash Rajbhar.

Rajbhar, whose outfit Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) commands considerable influence over the 'Rajbhar' community voters, who were in sizable numbers on around a dozen seats in eastern UP, has fielded his candidates on almost all the seats, including prime minister Narendra Modi's LS seat of Varanasi, in the region.

Snubbed by the saffron party after he demanded three seats in exchange for his support, Rajbhar has been seeking votes from his community to ''avenge'' his ''humiliation''.

''Noon roti khayenge...BJP ko harayenge'' (we will eat bread with salt but defeat the BJP) is the slogan being chanted by the SBSP leaders and workers in 'Rajbhar' dominated villages in Chandauli, Varanasi, Mau, Azamgarh, Ghazipur, Ballia and other eastern UP districts, where the community has a large presence.

''BJP will not get more than three seats in eastern UP this time,'' Om Prakash Rajbhar claimed.

To rub it further, Rajbhar has been heaping praise on Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, who was in the fray from Azamgarh LS seat. ''Akhilesh is a great leader,'' he said and predicted that Akhilesh's opponent Dinesh Lal Yadav alias Nirahua, a popular 'Bhojpuri' film star, would be dealt with a crushing defeat.

'Rajbhars' (an OBC community) formed around four per cent of the total electorate and were concentrated in a dozen eastern UP districts. The SBSP had won eight seats in 2017 assembly polls in alliance with the BJP.

Rajbhar has been spewing venom against UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath for the past several months. BJP did not take any action against him as it feared a backlash in the 'Rajbhar' community.

BJP tried hard to persuade Rajbhar not rebel and even offered him to contest from the Ghosi LS seat on its (BJP) election symbol but it was rejected by the SBSP president.

BJP had swept the region in 2014 winning 29 of the 30 LS seats. The lone seat that was won by its rivals was Azamgarh, where SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav had emerged victorious.