OBC leaders' defection big worry for SP ahead of LS 2024
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has a big worry with its OBC stakeholders, with half a dozen leaders from these communities having already defected to BJP in the past few months. In the run-up to the polls, Yadav has been stressing the importance of, what the party has termed the 'PDA', or 'Pichchda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak — backward, Dalit, and minority unity. Despite the party throwing its weight behind these communities, about half-a-dozen of the prominent OBC leaders of the state have joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in recent times.
Prominent OBC leader Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) President Om Prakash Rajbhar, former minister Dara Singh Chauhan, former Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) MP Rajpal Saini, former minister Sahab Singh Saini, and former MLA Sushma Patel are some of the prominent leaders who have defected to the BJP. In addition to them, Shalini Yadav, who was the SP's candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi, too has joined the BJP. The SP, however, has exuded confidence in its formidability despite the little migration.
«There is no opportunity in BJP. The BJP has definitely broken some political opportunists using the greed of power and pressure, but the public understands everything,» SP chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI on Sunday. A political expert said the breaking away of several OBS leaders could be due to their feeling there was no «proper place» in the SP alliance, complemented by an opportunity in the incumbent BJP.
On the other hand, Dara Singh Chauhan told PTI, «There are many reasons for leaving SP. OBCs have faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Modi-Shah is
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