Elections 2019 over, confident BJP’s axe falls on truant ally in UP

By Team MyNation  |  First Published May 20, 2019, 2:17 PM IST

On Monday UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath recommended the governor to sack Om Prakash Rajbhar from cabinet for his persistent anti-BJP stance.

New Delhi: The elections to the 17th Lok Sabha got over on Sunday. The exit polls, if they are any indication to go by, have made the scenario more or less clear; only the details are awaited. And the first casualty of this was disgruntled Om Prakash Rajbhar in UP. 

Uttar Pradesh chief minister (CM) Yogi Adityanath sacked his ally, the head of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), from the state cabinet on Monday.

Rajbhar was for long estranged from the BJP, and the CM and matters precipitated once the BJP decided not to spare him even one seat for the Lok Sabha elections even as he had filed a list of five to be considered.

While Rajbhar comes from the OBC community, he has for long been demanding the inclusion of the caste into the SC category. According to observers now that he has been chucked out just after the general elections 2019, he has been hung out to dry as he has no concrete avenue to hurt the saffron outfit.

Even BJP leaders quipped that he would have to wait another three years for his revenge. He had recently called upon his workers to thrash BJP activists with shoes.

A peeved Rajbhar welcomed the move on Monday. "We welcome the decision (to sack me). The decision taken by the chief minister was a delayed one," Rajbhar said. "Had the decision been taken around 20 days ago, it would have been much better," he said.

Not tipping his hand, he turned down queries about his future course of action, especially whether he would join the mahagathbandhan.

While the BJP has a brute majority in the state, Rajbhar holds an insignificant four MLAs.

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