Rajbhar meets Shivpal Yadav

The BJP's alliance partner and Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar on Friday met senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Shivpal Singh Yadav setting tongues wagging in political circles here.

Rajbhar, whose Suheldev Bharat Samaj Party (SBSP) has four members in the state Assembly, and Yadav held a closed-door meeting in Varanasi, about 300 km from here.

Although both leaders termed the meeting a "courtesy call", sources said that the two leaders discussed the prevailing political scenario in the state.

Rajbhar, who is the president of the SBSP, later said that no political meaning should be derived from the meeting.

"We are good friends and there is nothing wrong in meeting old friends," he remarked when queried in this regard.

The minister, however, came to the defence of SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav on the bungalow damage matter, saying that it appeared to be a conspiracy.

"It seems a conspiracy to me... no political leader will damage his bungalow before vacating it... it may be to tarnish his (Akhilesh) image," Rajbhar said.

Almost the entire BJP leadership and the state government have been targeting Akhilesh over the "damage" to the bungalow and a probe is already on in the matter.

The SP has been trying to bring smaller outfits into its proposed grand alliance to counter the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh.