Amid complaints by some BJP MPs that their problems are not being heard by the U.P. government, NDA ally SBSP on accused Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of not following “coalition dharma” and said it felt “ignored” by him.
“I will have detailed discussions with BJP president Amit Shah on various issues when he visits Lucknow on April 10 and then decide my party’s course of action,” Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party leader and U.P. Cabinet Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar told the media in Lucknow. He said the SBSP would rethink about the alliance if Mr. Shah did not agree on the issues raised by the party.
Attacking the U.P. Chief Minister, Mr. Rajbhar said, “Why are MPs and MLAs angry with the (Adityanath) government? Why are they going to Delhi to convey their grievances? Why are the MLAs angry and are sitting on protests?”
About the recent appointments made in the U.P. Secondary Education Board, Mr. Rajbhar said, “The BJP’s slogan of Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas is not being implemented in letter and spirit as relatives of senior BJP leaders from upper caste have been appointed. Now tell me where will the people from backward castes and scheduled castes will go?”
“At meetings of the UP Cabinet, everyone’s views are heard but the decision is taken by just four-five people. If we have voted for you, then we should also have a say,” he said.
A sulking Mr. Rajbhar in March rushed to Delhi with his complaint and met the BJP chief. He returned to Lucknow a bit mollified when Mr. Shah promised to visit the State capital on April 10 and hear him in detail in the presence of the Chief Minister. “I will tell you what the BJP wants and what Om Prakash Rajbhar wants after April 10,” he said.
“If he (Mr. Shah) does not agree on the issues raised by us, as he had promised (during a meeting in Delhi ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls), we will have to rethink about the alliance,” he said, replying to a question.
Ahead of the Rajya Sabha elections in U.P., Mr. Rajbhar had threatened that his MLAs would boycott the voting. The SBSP has four MLAs in the 403-member U.P. Assembly, where the BJP and its allies have a brute majority of 324 lawmakers.
The SBSP leader was also critical of the BJP’s decision not to select the Chief Minister from among the 325 elected NDA MLAs in the State. “It appears that all of them were worthless,” he said.
Mr. Rajbhar had recently said that corruption had increased in Uttar Pradesh under the present dispensation and that his party was not getting the due respect from the senior coalition partner.
“Now their (the BJP) own MPs and MLAs are speaking against them and sitting on dharna... Look at the statements coming from people occupying responsible positions... There has to be something behind their speaking like this,” he said. He was referring to Lok Sabha MPs Ashok Kumar Dohrey (Etawah) and Yashwant Singh (Nagina) who had joined their Dalit colleagues to publicly express their unhappiness , especially after the recent protests against the Supreme Court order on the SC/ST Act.
Earlier, Robertsganj Lok Sabha MP Chhote Lal Kharwar had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accused Mr. Adityanath of “scolding” him when he went to take up an issue with him.
While these three Dalit parliamentarians of the BJP have approached Mr. Modi with their concerns, Bahraich MP Sadhvi Savitri Bai Phoole has virtually turned a rebel, triggering speculation that she might join the BSP, which she had earlier quit to join the BJP.
Ms. Phoole had slammed the Modi government for its stance on the apex court order on the SC/ST Act, saying it smacked of a conspiracy to scrap reservation for Dalits.
The 37-year-old lawmaker from Bahraich went on to organise a mass rally in Lucknow on April 1 , a day before the nationwide protests that saw Dalit anger spill over to streets across the country.
