In what could be termed as a setback to the Samajwadi party in Uttar Pradesh, its ally Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party has announced support for NDA Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu. The SBSP chief made this announcement today on Friday morning at a press conference in Lucknow. Both SP and SBSP are on a rough patch after the debacle in Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha bypolls.
Speaking to the media at a press conference in Lucknow on Friday, OP Rajbhar said, “I was invited by the UP Chief Minister for the NDA Presidential candidate’s dinner on 8th July. I attended the dinner and got an opportunity to meet and have a discussion with Draupadi Murmu Ji. I promised her to have a discussion with my MLAs on her request to support her. Over the days I also had a word with Amit Shah. Following these discussions we have decided to support the NDA candidate.”
On the question of parting ways with the Samajwadi Party, Rajbhar said, “We are still in alliance with the Samajwadi Party but in Presidential Polls our party will support Murmu Ji.”
The OP Rajbhar-led SBSP had contested the 2022 UP assembly elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party. The SBSP has 6 MLA as of now including the son of jailed Mafia Don Mukhtar Ansari, Abbas Ansari.
After the Samajwadi Party lost both Rampur and Azamgarh bypolls, both leaders have not met and Rajbhar has been taking digs at the SP Chief since then and even went on to say that “Akhilesh Yadav should step out of AC rooms if he wanted to win the elections.”
Meanwhile, reacting to the support announced by OP Rajbhar to the NDA candidate, UP BJP Spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said that by declaring support for Murmu OP Rajbhar had shown his affection for the deprived section of the society. “We welcome the decision, while other opposition parties must also think again as this is for the first time post-independence when the country will get an Adivasi Women as its President,” he said.
Earlier, Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav had also announced his support for the NDA candidate after attending the dinner hosted by UP CM Yogi Adityanath for NDA’s Presidential candidate Draupadi Murmu.
Both Shivpal and Rajbhar were however not invited by Akhilesh Yadav when Samajwadi Party had called a meeting in favour of Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha. The only SP ally who was called for the meeting was Jayant Singh Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal.
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