Om Prakash Rajbhar changes track, again

Seen as mobilising the most backward groups in eastern U.P., the SBSP leader has reached out to the Samajwadi Party , having burnt his bridges with the BSP and BJP

Amid rising political temperatures in Uttar Pradesh ahead of next year’s Assembly polls, OBC leader Om Prakash Rajbhar has planned a big rally — a Vanchit, Pichda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak Bhagidhari Mahapanchayat — in Mau on October 27, the 19th foundation day of his party, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP). And significantly, the SBSP leader has invited Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav to be the chief guest at the rally.

The two parties are expected to declare an alliance for the 2022 election, in what has been a complete turn around for the SBSP over the past five years, with Mr Rajbhar emerging not just as leader within his community but also a sought-after mobilizer of the non-Yadav MBC votes for the bigger players in the Purvanchal region.

It was also in Mau in June 2016 that then BJP president Amit Shah attended a similar rally — an “ati-pichda, ati-dalit mahapanchayat’, targetted at Dalits and most backward communities — and announced an alliance with Mr. Rajbhar.