Lucknow: Om Prakash Rajbhar, chief of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and former ally of BJP, on Monday met Bhim Army chief Chandra Shekhar Azad in Lucknow, fuelling speculation that a new political alliance could soon emerge ahead of the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The meeting took place at the VIP Guest House in Dalibagh area here.
Azad recently had announced that he will float his own political outfit and will contest the 2022 UP Assembly polls. He also met Sumaiyya Rana, daughter of renowned poet Munawwar Rana, at the guest house on Monday. Sumaiyya has been heading the all women anti-CAA protest at Ghantaghar (clock tower) in the state capital.
Sources said the meeting between the two leaders was in connection with the UP Assembly polls; as per speculation, Azad may join the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha floated by Rajbhar for the polls. It is being said that the main aim of the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha is to bring the Dalits, Backward Castes and Minorities voters in Uttar Pradesh, under one umbrella.
SBSP general secretary Arvind Rajbhar on Monday claimed Azad will join the Morcha.
"The Bhim Army will also be a part of the front and a formal announcement will be made in the next few days. Today's meeting also deliberated on this," he said, adding the meeting lasted for around 30 minutes.
On Sunday, Azad had reportedly met a few political leaders, including some former leaders from Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). On the same day, former BSP leaders Ramlakhan Chaurasia, Izharul Haq and Ashok Chaudhary formally joined the Bhim Army.
The Bhim Army chief has reiterated on several occasions that “politics is not his ambition, but compulsion”.
“The political party to be announced by us will continue to work parallel to the organisation in its present form. I wanted to announce the formation of a political party in December last year before the Delhi Assembly Polls, but the work stalled due to the implementation of the CAA. The CAA had become more important than fighting elections,” Chandra Shekhar Azad told News18.
Earlier, while speaking at a function in Thiruvananthapuram, the Bhim Army chief had lashed out at the Centre over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and stated that a “democratic country runs according to the will of the people not by the whims and fancies of the BJP and RSS”.
Speaking at an anti-CAA rally in Thiruvananthapuram, Chandra Shekhar Azad sought withdrawal of the “black law” and said the fight would continue till it is repealed and the central government expresses an apology.
“If someone has any false impression that this country can be run according to the whims and fancies of BJP and RSS, he or she is wrong. This is a democratic country and here things happen according to the will of the people. We will fight till this black law is repealed. We will continue our fight till the central government apologises for it,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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