LUCKNOW: The opposition unity received a big jolt on Friday when Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav and SP ally OP Rajbhar, chief of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), arrived at UP CM Yogi Aditynath’s official residence to attend the dinner hosted by him in honour of NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu on Friday night.
Murmu had arrived in Lucknow on Friday afternoon to meet the MLAs and muster support for her.
Moreover, besides the BJP and its allies including Apna Dal (S) and NISHAD party, Jansatta Dal chief Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiyya and BSP’s lone MLA Umashankar Singh were also present in the dinner committing support to Murmu.
While Jansatta Dal has two MLAs, BSP chief Mayawati had already committed support of her lone MLA to Murmu a day after the announcement of her candidature by the NDA.
However, the presence of Shivpal Yadav and OP Rajbhar is being witnessed as a big jolt to opposition unity in the state ahead of the presidential elections due on July 18.
While Shivpal had won the Jaswantnagar Assembly seat on the SP ticket, Rajbhar’s SBSP had contested the Assembly elections in alliance with the Samajwadi Party, winning six seats. Significantly, both Shivpal and OP Rajbhar had been sulking for quite some time and going public with their views against the SP leadership.
The immediate flashpoint in SP-SBSP ties reached after Rajbhar was not invited to the meeting called by Akhilesh Yadav to drum up support for the opposition’s presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha who was in Lucknow on Thursday.
As per the highly placed sources, SP kept the SBSP chief waiting while inviting Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhury to the meeting.
Meanwhile, a senior SP leader downplayed Rajbhar’s presence in the NDA camp saying that it was much expected as the SBSP chief had met the BJP leaders four days back and that was the reason he was not invited to the meeting convened by the SP chief on Thursday.
However, the Friday development may go a long way in changing the flavour of UP politics ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as the SP-led alliance seems to be on the rocks.