SBSP chief to snub Modi's Ghazipur rally, spat with BJP looms

Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister and Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar has announced he will not attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Ghazipur, slated for December 29.

Rajbhar, who represents the Zahoorabad assembly constituency in Ghazipur district, is the Backward Class Welfare and Divyangjan Empowerment minister in the state government. His SBSP is an ally of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

"I will not attend the December 29 programme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ghazipur," Rajbhar told reporters here Saturday.

The prime minister is to visit Uttar Pradesh on December 29 to issue a commemorative postal stamp on backward caste Maharaja Suheldev Rajbhar and lay the foundation stone of infrastructure projects in Ghazipur.

An MLA from a constituency falling in Ghazipur and also a part of the state government, Rajbhar claimed he was never invited at the programmes of the prime minister held in that district and other parts of Poorvanchal.

Asked if he plans to go alone in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Rajbhar said, "In case, there is no seat-sharing agreement with the BJP, the SBSP will contest on all 80 Lok Sabha seats from UP and 16 seats from Bihar."

The SBSP chief said his party is preparing to contest the polls on its own.