BJP remembers OBCs only during polls, says former ally Rajbhar

His criticism comes a day after BJP’s two OBC-based allies in U.P. met Amit Shah in Delhi

A day after the BJP’s two OBC-based allies in Uttar Pradesh met Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi, the party’s former ally Om Prakash Rajbhar on Friday accused the BJP of remembering the backward caste people only when elections were near. When the party has to elect a Chief Minister, it prefers to bring people from outside, said Mr. Rajbhar, president of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party. An OBC leader himself, with pockets of influence among the Rajbhar caste in East Uttar Pradesh, Mr. Rajbhar held the post of Cabinet Minister under the Yogi Adityanath government till he rebelled before the 2019 Lok Sabha election and was then unceremoniously removed. Since then, he has managed to stitch together a loose alliance of half-a-dozen odd smaller parties, under the banner of the Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha, including former BSP Minister Babu Singh Kushwaha’s outfit and the AIMIM.