The chief of Uttar Pradesh’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, OP Rajbhar, will meet Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah in Delhi on Tuesday. Rajbhar’s party is an ally of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. He had threatened to boycott the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for March 23.
On Monday, Rajbhar accused the state government of focusing only on building temples and not on the poor. He said the BJP had not consulted his party before announcing Anil Agarwal as the ninth candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls. Rajbhar said that his party would not support the BJP candidate if Shah did not hold talks with him.
“There is a lot of talk but little change on the ground,” Rajbhar said. “The BJP is not following the coalition dharma. I have been expressing my concerns, but these people have gone crazy in their pride of having the support of [nearly] 325 MLAs in the Assembly.”
Ten Rajya Sabha members from Uttar Pradesh will retire this year. The BJP has the numbers to send eight candidates to the Upper House. Support from Rajbhar’s party, which has four legislators in the state Assembly, can be critical to send a ninth candidate too.
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