The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an ally of the ruling BJP coalition in Uttar Pradesh, has up the ante ahead of Rajya Sabha polls on March 23 threatening not to vote for the party candidate. The SBSP has four members in the UP Assembly.

The SBSP Chief and Cabinet Minister in Yogi Adityanath government Om Prakash Rajbhar has warned that his party’s four MLAs will not cast their votes in favour of the BJP candidate if BJP National President Amit Shah did not hold talks with him ahead of Rajya Sabha polls to solve their problems.

The SBSP Chief is annoyed with the BJP leadership for not roping in his party support during the recently-concluded Lok Sabha by-polls on two seats in Gorakhpur and Phulpur and announcement of Rajya Sabha tickets to nine BJP candidates without even consulting them. He is particularly not happy with BJP’s decision to give Rajya Sabha ticket to Sakaldeep Rajbhar, BJP dalit leader from Ballia.

“My party is a part of the NDA and ruling coalition government in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP is not following the coalition dharma. We are being treated as second-rate citizens. Our party’s four MLAs will not support the BJP candidate if Amit Shah did not hold talks with us before Rajya Sabha polls,” warned Rajbhar.

The SBSP Chief stated that his party will not cross floor during Rajya Sabha polls but will certainly not vote to the BJP candidate if Amit Shah did not talk to him and solved problems being faced by us. “If BJP does not follow coalition dharma, they why should we support it in Rajya Sabha polls,” said he.

“Results in both Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats would have been different had BJP asked us to campaign for their candidates. We would have got them about 30,000 to 50,000 Rajbhar votes to save them from humiliating defeats,” pointed the Cabinet minister.

“After winning 325 seats with its allies, power has gone into the heads of BJP leaders. Instead of serving poor they are out to play temple card. They are under a false impression that SBSP will merge with BJP. The BJP should learn from Akhilesh Yadav how he gave respect to smaller party like Nishad Party and put up their candidate to wrest the prestigious Lok Sabha seats, represented five-times by the Chief Minister,” quipped Rajbhar.

The BJP is seeing SBSP threat as arms-twisting tactic to seek favours. “If SBSP and its leaders have any problem then they should raise the issue at the party forum and Cabinet meeting instead of going to the media. After all, they are our ally and part of the ruling coalition,” stated BJP Spokesperson Dr Sidharth Nath Singh.

The SBSP threat may shatter the BJP plan to seek revenge from the BSP Supremo Mayawati for supporting Samajwadi Party candidates in Lok Sabha by polls and making ruling party lose both crucial seats. After ensuring win of its eight candidates, the BJP will have 28 extra votes, including four from SBSP and nine from Apna Dal, another coalition partner of the BJP in UP.

The SBSP support is crucial for the BJP’s ninth candidate Anil Agarwal to make an attempt to wrest Rajya Sabha berth from the BSP after assurance of support from three independents, one Samajwadi Party (vote of Nitin Agarwal, son of Naresh Agarwal) and ‘managing’ five more votes through horse-trading and cross-flooring.