VARANASI: In yet another sign of growing closeness between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Suheldev Bahujan Samaj Party (SBSP), the UP government has provided ‘Y’ category security to party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar.
Rajbhar, an MLA from Zahoorabad assembly constituency of Ghazipur district, served as a cabinet minister in the previous Yogi Adityanath government and is currently witnessing a strained relationship with its alliance partner Samajwadi Party (SP) with whom it had contested the recent state assembly polls.
Joint secretary, home, Vinay Kumar Singh issued a letter in this regard to the ADG (security) on July 15. "Y category security has been provided to MLA Om Prakash Rajbhar," confirmed Ghazipur SP Rohan P Botre.
Rajbhar, an MLA from Zhoorabad assembly constituency of Ghazipur district, is a former cabinet colleague of the chief minister Yogi Adityanath. In the 2022 assembly elections, his party allied with the SP camp. The SBSP has six MLAs in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
The development came after SBSP voted for the NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu on July 18. However, the letter for providing Y category security to him was issued on July 15.
The differences between Rajbhar and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav were out in the open when Rajbhar attended a dinner hosted in honour of NDA Presidential candidate Draupadi Mumru at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s residence recently. On his part, Yadav did not invite Rajbhar to a meeting convened in Lucknow in support of opposition Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha.
SP’s failure in the UP Assembly elections 2022 and the defeat in Lok Sabha by-elections also increased the rift in the alliance. After the defeat, Rajbhar had advised Akhilesh to move out of his air-conditioned drawing room.
